Recent site changes have generated more unhappiness than I expected.

I dunno. I'm pretty thrilled with the results. People usually only comment when they have a disagreement. When I write a big research post, almost every single comment is negative, and yet it gets 50 upvotes. So most people may appreciate the changes even if you only hear from critics.

Thanks for all your hard work, Matt! Try not to take the criticism too seriously. People get accustomed to something even when it's suboptimal, and then they complain when it's changed. But they'll get over it.