summary of my thoughts:
i'm all for a color scheme change if that's what most people want.
first posts first is the way it should stay. i've always hated having to scroll backwards through a discussion. not everyone sits here all day checking as each new post is made. for those that don't, it's a pain in the ass to read backwards, especially on multi-page threads. most days when i check in, there are at least three or four long threads that have started since my last check, and reading them in order is much easier on my brain.
as for scrolling, i do less now than i did before thanks to links to the multiple pages, and the jump to new posts feature. besides, i think that whining about scrolling is really pretty lame. is it really that hard? a click of the mouse or a spin of the little wheel is hardly an enormous effort, you lazy bastards.
deleting posts is much easier now, since you have to be logged in the whole time and don't have to re-enter your info. thanks for that. i'm still not gonna manually delete all the crap in the forum, though. especially now that you can set your preferences to only see posts as recent as you want.