It would appear that the majority is happy with things as they are (or with one or two minor changes) but feel ok as things are, or would have added a comment.

I'm perfectly happy with things as they are, and would only favor making the layout of JU and WC similar so that posting pictures/screenshots, etc. wouldn't be such a trial. I know that at least one other person agrees with me.

That doesn't constitute reason enough to change things.

Not sure how the Win-folks got so feisty about your reasonable OP. I've been posting for ages around here also, and agree with you that the UI could use some simple tweaks to help ensure that more casual users don't miss posts that would actually be of interest to them.

That said, for various reasons, the forum sprawl problem first amongst them, I mainly ignore the sub-topic category structure and use just Recent Posts and My Replies to follow stuff. And that's still not as simple as I'd like because I follow some stuff in both Misc and Off-Topic, and you can't get both those topics on all Stardock sprawl site (Off-Topic got blocked at Elemental quite some time ago).

Several posts in this thread read to me like less-than-thoughtful Stardock booster talk with a dusting of kick-the-gamers attitude. I still recommend GC2 to my friends with similar tastes, so I feel like I should be able to count myself amongst Stardock's supporters, but the sprawl situation does seem to regularly generate conflicts between us 'mere gamers' and the 'real software' folks. I like the fact that sometimes I learn about an important bit of IT news here first, but I still often think that I'd give that up happily if we could 'dissolve the union' and let each domain name be its own separate section of the forums DB as far as the user POV goes. 

Beg pardon, but this seems like an exception to my general impression that you're a rather sensible entity.

Please explain how the choice to make category-level 'recent' lists use 'ThreadCreated' vs. 'LatestReply' has value in facilitating spam reduction. Doesn't spam-fighting depend on a mixture of software that identifies repetitive postings and humans who read those reports and also manually patrol the boards?

Oh, I'm certain you think I'm a moron...but that's fine.

Spam fighting [here] relies on the dilligence of said moron being online 24/7 and monitoring 'recent posts', recognizing the type of post or thread as 'spam' and removing both the spam and the spammer.

Typically there are 3 or 4 'actual humans' keeping the crap at bay.... we're from various corners of the globe allowing effectively full time monitoring 24/7/365.

With other forums either they do not care or simply do not notice their spam.

What 'may' suit the one or two whose transience makes catching up on comments irksome may also inhibit the current simplicity of spam catching which most definitely is NOT a transient occurrence.

"mixture of software"?

In your dreams....

horny pony?

Well, there's another reason to question certainty wherever you encounter it. My general impression of you is that you're a good citizen of the boards and often rather funny. My only guess as to why you might believe that I think you're a moron is that I've made a rather bad impression on you, which is regrettable.

And back on the recreational quibbling channel, I don't see how the UI frustration expressed in this OP (and elsewhere) has anything to do with "architecture" changes. The data is all already there. It's just a UI design decision (or set of them) that leaves spam cops like you with one POV and users like Linque and me with another.

Plus, I want points for having said right off that the 'problem' is no big deal for me because I get adequate info via My Replies & Recent Posts.

Moron? Never. At least as touchy as I am sometimes, maybe... 

If one cares, he can bookmark the thread as well....

I find this to be true all too often:

Jafo, you really don't seem to like my idea much, but the thing is that no one has said a single point as to why it is advantageous to have the current system instead of my proposed improvement. All that happened here is that you got kind of touchy on the issue and my suggestion got ridiculed. Basically all arguments against my idea have been that there is a 'Recent Posts' button that everyone uses that works really well. I don't see why the way the Last Post Info works is better for people who attend these forums frequently. What's the benefit of it?

Also, I don't understand why proposing to change a feature that you don't use gives you a need to post here saying that the forums work fine for you so let's not change anything. Some of the users that visit these forums are more casual than you guys. For them, this improvement idea is useful even though it wouldn't do anything to you. That's all. Not a big deal. Not saying this forum sucks. Not saying we should change everything. Not saying I'm an erudite master of the sublime. Not thinking I'm better than anyone. Not thinking the Recent Posts system is bad. All I'm saying that he Last Post Info box has a really strange behavior, something that I've never seen on any major message board.

I understand if you don't have the time to change it because the guy who codes the forums is too busy. Or any other reasonable explanation. I just look at amazement at your arguments about spam defense and architecture change, as they have absolutely zero to do with my proposed improvement.

So my reference to 'that's the way it is' in a post ages ago isn't considered 'reasonable'?

That it 'wouldn't do anything to me' is an untested hypothesis.   I for one would resist any changes that impacted negatively upon the reasonable ease of supervision of the Forums.

I've stated more than once that that which 'irritates you for ages' is NOT a bug.  It is the way things are intended....

Database interconnectivity of sites and their related forums, along with cache refresh timing can see quirky behaviour with a system this sophisticated/complex...

The forums have been developed over ten years and are now as you see them.

That explains their existence in this form...

aka...that's the way it is...