[Libertina]

For instance, the balkanization of the forum concerns me greatly
While you incorrectly labeled Sir Gawain a newbie, you are right on target about the "Balkanization" of the forum. Rather than a big US, the FR community, we now choose even which TYPE of news to "subscribe" to... hmmm, do I want breaking, state, front page, foreign, local? It seems that the word news should cover it all. Although the new page format looks pretty, it is less functional. Plus, what any design teacher would say is that the home page of FR and the post pages match, while the new page design even uses different fonts. The blue color/left sidebar seems as if a page from a different web site has just popped up.

[Sir Gawain]

It's ok. Everybody tells me I look younger than I really am. :-)