Ok, assuming this is real (even if it's not, the issues are), these are my opinions on some of the changes:
1. Embedded images will be allowed in most of the sub-forums. These will be turned off by default, but users can change their profile to allow embedded images. Only those signed in to the forums will be able to see the images.
I don't particularly like embedded images, but at least the option is off by default. I know that I'm going to turn it on, though, because there will be at least a few images from time to time that I do want to see. I hope people don't abuse this feature and post an excessive amount random images. I've seen this happen far too often, and it's annoying.
3. Politics and News will now be Politics & Religion. A separate sub-forum for non-divisive, non-political news stories has been added.
Please, no. Separation of church and state - or in this case, separation of religion and politics. If you want to make it a "Religion and Philosophy" forum, that would be better, but I don't think we need another subforum. Non-political news should be in OT, not a subforum. P&N should remain P&N.
4. In an effort to attract more outside interest to the forums, there will be more social sub-forums. In addition to OT, P&R, L&R, News, The Garage, and Health & Fitness, the following sub-forums have been created:
Hobbies, Blogging, Finance, Rants and Raves, and Homework Help
I don't curse normally, but fuck outside interest. These are tech forums primarily, which is why tech interests were always the majority, and anything else was "off topic". We don't need more subforums, that just dilutes the level of participation. OT should not be split any further.
5. As all they've done in the past is encourage neffing, titles such as "lifer" have been eliminated. All new titles will be rep-based.
6. Post counts have been eliminated. See #5.
I don't care about post count or titles (not that much, anyway), but a lot of people are going to be angry about this. They'll probably get over it, but still, I don't think it's a good move. Post count is useful information, which, along with join date, lets us know how active a member is.
8. There are two separate rep systems - one for the more technical & help oriented forums - responses will count toward titles; and one for the strictly social forums. User feedback in the social forums will be used to lock threads or automatically vacation users. (Good luck, Savoyboy.) This will be implemented much the same way the feedback on Craigslist is used to flag posts there. This feature will also be added to Hot Deals and For Sale/Trade to help combat spammers more efficiently. Anyone posting 3 threads that are locked within a 10 day rolling period will automatically be vacationed for one week. Moderators will continue to be able to vacation members who violate rules, at the moderator's discretion. User votes are logged and any user or group of users who show a history of maliciously flagging threads will wind up vacations. The automatic vacations may be appealed to a senior moderator.
I'm ambivalent about the rep system. It probbably will encourage helpful posting, but it also does encourage retaliatory repping (if negative reps are enabled). If only positive reps are allowed, I see no major issue with the system.
9. Moderators will be addressed by "Sir" and "Ma'am" as appropriate.
(Just kidding. We asked for it, but Derek said "No.")
Even if you are kidding, sir, I wouldn't mind calling mods "sir" or "ma'am" *tips hat*
One question: are custom avatars enabled, and if so, what are the limitations?