I really like what they’ve done here.
One of the small touches here that I think really helps make it feel cleaner is the lack of the header. It makes it feel much less like a stodgy old table.
The category styling is bold but not distracting.
And the two avatars to show the original and last poster keeps some good info. Having it on the left makes the page feel more balanced, without something too ‘heavy’ drawing the eyes away past the list of topic titles. Leaving enough margin to read through the list of topics.
The more I look at it, the more I like it.
Also, no tiger stripes. That’s one thing all these minimal designs have in common.
Now that stars are gone, what’s the one thing you would remove?
I think there’s a strong case for removing tiger stripes from the default design.