Personally, I like the color changes. The "dark hacker look" thing is anything but universal. Here's a hacker who likes bright better .

I did have some issues with the new layout when it was launched initially. Some have already been addressed since then, one even in direct response to a request of mine (respecting the option to hide avatars properly). I.e. I've found the guys in charge to be attentive and quick to respond. Kudos.

The new theme (a) works way better than the old default on my N810 (much, much speedier) and (b) has more features than the "Minimalistic" one I used previously (because the default was slow). Bottom line, it's best of both worlds to me. I expect to visit the forums more now.