Thanks for your reply Lauren. The thing is, I (and I'm sure many others) normally quickly skim through, looking to the right of the screen, and can instantly see who last posted and when (without having to enter the thread). In other words, you can see if anyone replied yet, and if so who and when. If no one has, you don't bother revisiting the thread.
Also, it was nice when all the threads were listed in one area rather than having to click into different areas to see threads (or is there a way they can all be viewed in one place?) Frequent posters probably won't want to click in lots of different places to see if there's a new post they think they can help with / want to reply to.
The forum looks a lot cleaner and more modern, but it would be handy if tweaks could be made :-)