Here is my suggestions
A "New Topic" button on the main page. Or any page for that matter. The easier it is to create new threads the more likely someone is to start one.
Expand the Latest Forum Topics from 10 to 15 or 20. I hate when I have to go searching in the forums.
The "New Topic" idea doesn't seem practical to me. As for expanding the "Latest Forum Topics", I think it's a good idea. I'd go for 20 myself.
There's plenty of unused space in the right column.
My guess on this is that there would be some resistance on moving Fanposts even further down on the front page. Plus, if people learn to use the "Recent Posts" and "Updated Topics" options in their Members Menu, it's really not a huge problem.
Well, it's really not the same thing, since the "Latest Forum Topics" are always 1 click away regardless of where you're at at the moment. If it's not too much work, it would be highly beneficial to expand it. It's clearly one of the most used, if not the most used, tool by active users here, so I really don't understand why anyone would be against it.
I'm willing to bet, for example, that the "Forum Links" tree is not used much. If it were me I'd remove it, seeing as it takes a ton of space in the column, and maybe replace it with some sort of drop down list like we used to have in the previous version of CB. It would improve functionality and clear-up space to expand tools that seem to be in demand by users here.
Just an idea.