Actually you can customize a fair amount if you go to "Settings" (top right of this page) and then "General Settings" (in the left menu), you'll see a long list of options including how threads are displayed and how many posts per page etc.
You're right in that it's not perfect, but this is a free-to-use forum which exists on donations, very little advertising income, and volunteer moderators. When Doug(Admin) logs in later he can hopefully take a look at the Wiki-post addition for this thread.
I'd be happy if it just sent every post as an email the way the Yahoo groups do.
As far as donations go, I donated some time ago now and I thought that Doug was doing something as a yearly reminder. The Mods here do great work (even if they're often not appreciated) and I'm aware of how much time, effort, and cash it takes to keep things going.