That's funny, I keep clicking on the Garmin ad, too! I'm sure Garmin will love that, front and center (I know, they always were front and center, sorta).
I'm not keen (yet) on the new format. But I know I'll get used to it, and I'm confident that when I do, I'll admit it's way better and cooler than the old. I'm merely missing some of the features I used a lot and could 'cut to the chase' during a daily visit and see what I wanted to see. I think I've figured out how to quickly find the posts that are new since my last log-in, so there's that.
What I find a little surprising on here is the number of people complaining that they hate the new format. Yeah, it's tough to move around in it and will take a while to get used to it, but it'll get better the more you use it.. And I like the overall 'modern' look. I'm sure there are a few people that put in a LOT of time to migrate the old forum details to this new one, and it was only down for a short period of time while they finished it up. Yes, I'm sure there a lot of things to tidy up and improve. But let's not trash them after their hard work to bring us into the current century that will still allow us to get the info we all need and want to help sustain our homebuilding and aviation hobby.
None of us (especially pilots) like things jammed down our throat. But there comes a time to bite the bullet and just get it done. And I thank those who worked behind the scenes to make it happen in a relatively seamless fashion. Think ADS-B here - It was a steep learning curve, especially for those of us that self-installed, And I'm still learning about it. But so far, I like it and recognize the improved level of safety it offers. So it is/was worth the effort to figure it out. This new forum format will be the same soon as long we keep plugging away and figuring it out. It's a process, not a pass/fail scenario. Just like building a plane - it, too is a process. And when something doesn't work exactly like we want it to, it's not a failure, but a step in the process to help figure out what WILL work like we want or need.
Rant over. Let's be nice and help with constructive criticism. Because this format isn't going away! Let's help make it better to the extent we can.