Based on the above, here’s one possible alternate view that we could use for the main Forums homepage (what you get when you click “Forums” in the main nav).

That’s essentially the “Active Topics” that you get in the sidebar (topic with the most recent reply is at the top, sorted by last topic reply); stickied topics are in yellow at the top.

Also, you’ve likely noticed that the sidebar has been updated as well – main forum listing got moved to the bottom to make the active topics and recent replies quicker to get to – and the extra search bar at the top of the forum listing has been removed.

Shout with thoughts on those.