First of all, the new layout is awesome. About the heart system, though:
The good:
1). Finally, an organized method of keeping people in line. No double-standards. A spin off the original "warning" system, but with style. This is good - people can finally get beaten with blunt objects again!
2). Badass and intimidating. Yes, nothing is more badass than an actual TLOZ heart dropping out and you knowing you're approaching gameover. Now all you need is a beeping when you reach three hearts and a fairy to revive you when you're out.
The bad:
1). The system does not need to be public. It's nobody else's business knowing how many times you are warned; it elicits judgemental attitudes. It really just forces people to conform to everybody else's standards. If someone does something wrong, just delete it and PM the person, but keep it private. When applying for a job, I sure as hell wouldn't want my employer to know if I'd been in prison or not. It seems contradictory that the staff has enough courtesy to send you a PM telling you when you've been warned, but then have it openly displayed for view by 768 people. But, "this also has the advantage of allowing people to see we are fair handed." I smirk at this! How can it being public POSSIBLY show if you're being fair handed or not? Of course I trust you are...but a bad statement, regardless.
2). Standards. It's silly to have these types of standards - treat people how they act, don't lump the mature and immature people into the same category. There is an entire forum to whine and moan in (the one in which this topic exists, actually), so people can just come here and complain, yet here it's merely "feedback", not flaming or spamming. No one will get warned. People get pissy too - and we're on an online gaming forum, not sitting through a two hour essay on dystopian literature of the 17th century. Let's just chill. If people get offended by what someone says, don't read it. If it's a personal attack, another story.
3). PC. Why do we have to be limited in what we say? The ever-extending reach of hell's fury has already torn the English language apart with politically correctness, I was just hoping it'd be a bit longer before it reached internet forums. I view this as a place to say what I want to say. There are differences between flaming and talking passionately, but the line is drawn to early. The heart system is just a way to limit what people say, and the excuse "you can say what you want calmly" doesn't fly - sometimes, you have to !@#$% slap someone around a bit. The idea of taking criticism like a man is so taboo these days. Everytime you criticize someone, it's a "personal attack" or some other phrase intending to make the person feel like the victim, only to look stupid in the end because his "attacker" was so right all along. I'm not going to have my opinion watered down by words ending in "ism" and stretched out with !@#$% phrases like "I disagree, but I still see it your way." No, I don't. But I can't say so otherwise. It's also fun to get into people's heads every now and then - just make him cry a bit, not much, just a few tears to sustain me.
. I love being twisted. And writing huge ass topics.