Okay I'm confused. You gave people a bunch of options which you yourself decided are solutions? Then people voted. Then you ignored their votes. There's probably more examples out there that actually make sense but that link kind of contradicts what you said.... in fact you chose the least voted for option....
I mean if mega threads or whatever are really becoming a problem, wouldn't it be best to make a poll of viable options that you can enact (really lost for the right word there). If we clearly can't leave things the way they were... then why add that option to poll to begin with? It's usually better to explain a situation to people so that they understand the issue rather than false hope or whatever the $$$$ that was all about.
Anyway in saying all this, I don't really have any major issues with the new layout, just don't understand how it could be difficult to gauge people's reaction before going ahead and changing things.