The lack of thread titles seems to be a mobile/vertical issue on the front page. Don't know if that can be seen to at some point, but I agree that a recent activity feature would be convenient for many users. An old layout, give or take a few style points, is more familiar to members of other scenes.
Constructive criticism around that is probably more beneficial.
For avatar resizing, you can search for online tools if it's an immediate concern. 200x200 or 100x100 are fairly standard limits in other places, so you'll just need to keep the aspect ratio locked to avoid image distortion.
