I think those are entirely valid concerns, no question.
I'm not exactly happy (and yesterday I was having a very grouchy day) but it's not finished yet. Many things the admins have asked for -- and trust me, they are very much paying attention to what people are saying, and, in fact, were asking for many of these items out in front -- are promised. A few, like multi-quote, unfortunately, are not.
The problem, as has been noted, but perhaps insufficiently nonetheless, is that the old system had pretty much completely broken down, presumably for a web of reasons, primary among them the spam burden but also likely the enormous and ever-growing database supporting posts going back many, many years. And millions and millions of them.
The changeover was intended to be much slower and more deliberate -- but with users simply unable to pull up two pages in a row or even make a post much more often than not, it was clear that HC was about to be circling the drain unless something was done immediately, so the entire changeover was pushed forward on an emergency basis. No one wanted to, but it was felt that drastic action was necessary to keep the site alive.
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