49 views and only 2 votes, very depressing
I also agree about "change", it's not in our nature to accept change easily but I think the additions to the forum will help to set us apart from the major boards and help give us our own name, and with the addition of the second theme I think we're in a better position to help our members have the best experience possible.
As for the in line advertising, I understand your dislike, it's not my favorite either but the reality is that their are costs involved in running a forum. I tried to make the ads as low impact as possible with only text and no picture ads (that to me is very intrusive). It is my hope that as we grow in popularity the ads can be completely removed for registered users.