I am catching up on all the feedback so far so apologies if this has been covered already. I really like the simplified topic map, and agree it should always show at the top, below the first post.
At the bottom I find it distracting. It’s full of valuable, seemingly urgent information that draws my attention and has me forgetting what I want to do next. At that moment I want to reply or add a reaction and then move on to the next topic. I am not in a frame of mind where I am curious about digging into topic statistics or details.
I can see it being useful to somehow have access to it at the bottom or from anywhere really when reading a topic, especially a long one. Maybe it could be tucked away behind an emoji in the topic timeline or topic menu?