All we are saying is GIVE US A CHOICE! If some users prefer some of the old themes, what's the big deal? Here's the most direct, most official answer, from Reggie:

That reason just doesn't hold water. So long as the new, "official" maemo.org theme (I'll call it "Orange Theme" for brevity) is the default theme, that's what the "future members" would see when they come to the website. They'll see that unified look that Reggie and the Council and Nokia believe is important. The site will have a consistent look, and you should all be happy. That some old-timers, and some newcomers, choose, in the privacy of their own computers, to select one of the old themes (I'll call them "Old Classics") doesn't detract from the initial impression. Hence, the "future members" don't see disjointedness; they see a coherent image. So what's the big deal if the Unified Orange Look can be escaped in the forum by those who so choose? In fact, the only people who would see a "disjointed" website would be those who have themselves chosen it! I just see no logical reason we can't have it both ways.

Additionally, if we're concerned about "our image as a community," the best way to avoid tarnishing it is to put this problem behind us. The Orange-supporters think the rest of us should do that by just stuffing our feelings and "getting over it." I don't think we're going to, or can. However, there is a readily available, alternative way to put the problem behind us: by allowing us the option of having some of the Classic themes for the forum. If you do that, then all this debate goes away ... and you still have the unified Orange look for the default. If I post from a Classically-themed forum on my computer, the Orange-supporters and the new members would still see the post in the Orange theme and get to enjoy their unified look. So what's the big problem with allowing us to work from our alternative theme?

To me the biggest possible mistake would be to piss off certain people who contribute immensely. And those people, for me, are the generous coders. The most astonishing, most wonderful aesthetic improvement to the forum could never compensate for the loss of any one of Penguinbait, Bundyo, Benson, BrentDC, thp, or fiferboy (a partial list, I realize) -- because they have all given me tools from which I get immense use. If any single one of them would be lost to the community because of some objectively great aesthetic improvement that bugged him, the loss would outweigh the benefit of the improvement. Let's say that fiferboy loves the Orange theme (I have no idea) -- he wouldn't leave or lessen his involvement because an optional theme was merely allowed for others. But if there is any chance of losing or substantially diminishing the contribution of Penguinbait (who expressly hates it) or BrentDC (who is unhappy with it) or any other good coder, and I were in charge, I would just cave in and allow optional old themes, even if their distaste for the Orange Theme were insane and wrong in every way. I mean, for god's sake, we're only talking about non-default options. Again, what's the big f***ing deal??

Pro-Orange people are also talking about what a waste of time it is for Penguinbait and others to argue over the theme. But then they say he should spend his time creating a new theme! Do you see the contradiction? Why should he spend his time creating a theme (if he even has that skill set) when he, and all the other objectors, would be satisfied with the powers-that-be simply allowing as options the old themes, which already exist? I'd rather have Penguinbait spend his time doing great coding projects, like creating the deb that simplified cloning the OS to a removable card. I'd rather BrentDC not waste his time making a forum theme if he could otherwise spend that time making Quick Clip even better.

Reggie's and Council Members' only other argument is that it would take effort to maintain more themes. I don't believe it could be all that much effort. In light of the fact that the old forum had something like 6 optional themes, I can't believe it's that much effort. Is there some reason that maintaining the Classic theme in the current context would take more additional effort than was required to maintain, say, the N810 theme in the old forum? That argument is also undermined by Reggie's and qgil's request for the creation of new optional themes. Presumably those, too, would take effort to maintain.

I think the smart thing to do would be to have a poll where people who do not like the Orange Theme could vote on which two of the Old Classic themes they want retained as options. There could be one poll for a desktop preference and one poll for a Tablet preference. (Alternatively, you could just keep all the old ones; but to limit the extra maintenance work, you might want to cut it down to two, and I bet the dissenters would be satisfied.) On an honor system, only people who would prefer not to use the Orange Theme should be allowed to vote.

What's the problem with that? We're just talking about making options available, we're not asking to change the unified default look.