I like the new front page, but is there an option to not display the poster's avatar? It takes up a lot of space.
if you are referring to the topmost avatar, you can "collapse" that category. you can turn this:
into this:
by clicking the "-" sign that is circled in the first screencap. but be aware that you will lose the links
for "Show unread posts since last visit", and "Show new replies to your posts" if you do that.
To uncollapse that category, just click on the "+" sign that took the place of the "-" sign.