The new forum software is highly configurable and there's a huge range of optional features, not least many different 'skins', some of which are free such as those here and some paid-for such as these. It's even possible to arrange that different members see different interfaces! I've set up the forum with pretty much everything in the default state, but if there's a desire for customisation it can probably be met.
One big advantage compared with the old forum is that you can choose to be notified by email when a new topic is created, not just when a new post is made to an existing topic (although that option is available too). This means you can effectively monitor the whole forum (by subscribing to every sub-forum) and you will be notified when there is any activity without having to regularly check it yourself.
Richard.