It's been a while since I messed with things once I found a set up I liked, but try working with both the forum view and the thread view to see if one combination works better than the others.  I've been on other forums and most of them were much less desirable than how I have my preferences set.

I was on another farm forum recently with much less traffic than this.  A reply pops the thread to the top of the page. Someone had went way back and responded to some year old posts, which were now front and center over today's posts. It was a joke.

If you REALLY want to see users leave in droves just let them switch this forum to that style.  I guarantee traffic will drop so fast it will amaze you.  Yes, there are some who would like it as you say.  But I am confident in saying the overwhelming majority of active AgTalk users do not want it to change