I figured it out (only took me 2 days...)

The frustration some of the regular "helpers" (including myself) here have expressed in various topics trying to make answering technical questions as easy as it was just a few days ago, and trying to resolve several frustrating issues myself, I kept wondering about the necessity of some of the new features and it suddenly struck me:

This new format appears to mimic a social networking site more than a tech forum!

One indication: the "people like you" column on the right - exactly how does anyone know who may or may not be "like me"??? Totally superfluous in a tech forum, but probably interesting to people who are into social networking. I am not and I do not visit any of those sites.

The new format is pretty much newbie-proof in how to ask a question; trying to answer, keep up with that particular topic and/or additional posts in that topic is frustrating at best.

This type of forum may appeal to some; it does not to me. I spent enough time previously keeping up with my subscriptions and/or looking for new questions I may have an answer for. I never used the emails - too many clicks; I simply went to my subscription page and clicked on any topic with new content. When finished there, I scrolled through the forums I usually watched to see if there was a new question I may know the answer to. Those easy processes have suddenly become cumbersome, time consuming, and frustrating.

Maybe we can get the useful functionalities incorporated while maintaining the new "social networking" type of interface?