Some criticisms:
Open to last page is a terrible default: When viewing an unfamiliar topic, starting with the last page means you don't get any context for the conversation. (This is especially true if the last page only has one post.) That setting is one of the first things I changed when posting on the forum.
The topic links on the main forum page should have some page links. If I am actively following a topic, then I want to skip the early pages and just go to the last page.
The reputation system can be abused too easily by people who don't like a certain user. I have seen good, on topic posts that I (and sometimes other users) get "low rated".
With that in mind, when the first post in a topic is "low rated", it appears as read even if there are new posts in the topic. This is rather obnoxious when it happens to a topic I *want* to follow and am interested in.
Also, there needs to be a way to report particularly bad posts that are not spam. There have been at least 2 cases where a user has posted a personal attack on me, and that is the sort of thing that should not be allowed here.