I find the new design quite festive. After all, both Halloween and Christmas are just around the corner. Horror in, elegance out. Kitsch is the new subtlety. Christmas tree: abundance of colors, fonts, sizes, backgrounds, ads, ads for ads. Redundancy.
Do we really need five ads for ads? I mean, anyone interested in advertising understands from the moment they lay their eyes on the site that advertising is possible and highly desirable. And even if they live under a rock and do not get it, there is a subtle (finally!) reminder at the bottom of the home page: "Advertise with us." Instead we have it repeated five times. It reeks of fire-sale desperation, even if not true.
Redundancy: "Click here to read the article" repeated five times. Square previews on the left of article announcements contain no useful information, yet often repeat the very same ads on their own left, contributing to the overall sense of clutter and everything-but-a-kitchen-sink esthetics.
One of the latest articles (by Peter Cox), however, had a very good advice of its own: