The benefit of the new stuff being at the top is that it can be found even if it's not on the first page full of topics. I frequent another Mac forum hat uses an extremely old version of the software (not the SMF source) and it even has this function. But we have only two forums sections, not the 16 here!
The only similar function here, that I have seen, anyway, is the display of "
Today" part of the Unread Posts column. Unfortunately, if one misses more than two days of visiting, there won't be anything in there, other than a very recent date, to indicate something you may not have read. That column also lists only one post, even if there are several 'today' posts in that section.
Only way I can see to somewhat keep up-to-date is to visit each of the 16 sections, every day.
I pretty much only look at sections that interest me, but I do visit pretty much daily and can see the "
Today" or "
Yesterday" indications.
Perhaps there's a way to 'subscribe' to a forum/section as opposed to a topic. That way, one could get an email when a new post occurred in every forum/section.