OK, so I know you're all waiting for my take on all this new stuff...
my 2 cents...
the positive...
Let me start with the good stuff...some of the changes are AWESOME. It obviously was a lot of work to change it around and add all the new stuff...Good job!
now...the negative.
Preview Advantage posts. There is nothing good about it. Less people will post once they look in advantage and see better images than they made. I dont want to know how bad my image sucks until the contest is open and its too late.
I, too, like the surprise of the images once the contest opens. Many times, my vote (as few as I give out lately) is given for the initial impact of an image...If I've seen the image a half dozen times in advantage, it wont have the same impact.
The white background. Late at night, when I'm tired...it will cause all the tiny forum text to go blurry...I might fall over and bump my head or something. I'd like the white for the images pages but something less...errrm...white for all the intensive reading. I understand this might throw of the whole continuity of the site so I'll just tighten my turban and hope it protects my head.
Avatars Everywhere. I hate it. I hate it in chat, in the contest entries on votes and comments...it drags the page out from a single page to possibly 3 pages of text and bunches of avatars. To read your votes, if you have more than 50 requires much scrolling...MUCH scrolling. I tried it on one of ReyRey images so I KNOW!
forums. I would love to see the forum menu moved to the top. the search function, logout, etc. I miss it way at the bottom of the page. I also miss the little link that takes you to the last comment made in a particular forum. Remember on the main forum page, way on the right it would list the last person to comment with a link. It isnt entirely useful but if there was a hot topic in a particular forum, you could bet the last comment would get you there.
Contests. As a few others said, the front page with YESTERDAYS winner is old news. Id like to see the current winner also. Not to mention the votes for each of the thumbnails listed. I think others have mentioned it was a quick and dirty way to check the progress of the current contest.
Alls the advertisements. Not that I need to worry about it but when I visit a website that is loaded down with the amount of adds PSC now has when Im not logged in, I would turn around and walk back out to find something a little more inviting. With all the spam talk these days, popups, etc...people are really sensitive about having ads all over the place and might not bother trying to find their way around all the ads.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it pans out and read some of the other feedback. Overall, I was hoping for a scionshade blocker, but this will do