You seem to have forgotten the many times users of the old forum wished for an update (one that had workable search capability or that properly showed which users were logged in). The solution is not to return to the Old Forum (although migrating its data into a new forum would be a plus): the solution is a better replacement. MM tried out a newer format with the Garritan Forum and (for a variety of reasons, not all of them due to format) it did not attract a following. 

This forum seems to be part of a Customer Relations Management system (ironic, isn't it?) that appears to be more flexible on the back (company) end than it is on the user end. MM staff have been working to make the interface more informative; and although I wish they would change it to something more like the phpBB setup Dorico uses, I doubt that will happen. So the solution is to try to make this Forum work as well as possible as well as to frequent other forums as one is inclined.

Folks will differ with me on this. Folks from the Old Forum whom I respect a great deal from their work there do differ with me on this. But impugning the intentions of the folks at MM isn't helpful. 

At least the search function on this forum works well. So far company reps have been responding on a relatively regular basis. I hope the improvements and responsiveness will continue, because like you, I wish Finale to live long and prosper.

What many of us miss with the other forum is the ability to gain rapid, timely and to-the-point solutions to our problems. Before all this happened, I posted a problem to both the Make Music solutions folks on their previous version of a help center, and to the old Finale Forum. 

A day later, I posted the correct solution from the Finale Forum to the Help Centre in response to....  well, at that point the only response I had was an auto-reply with a case number.  It was several more days before a MM employee wrote me to congratulate me on finding the solution on my own.  That's the problem.  

To quote Burgess Meredith in his immortal Twilight Zone appearance- "Time, time, time..."  

Many of us are somewhere between VIP clients and weekend hobbyists; we use MM products as part of our businesses,  and as such we often require a solution to a given issue in a timely manner.   History has proven that a large number of interested and knowledgeable users will be able to beat a small band of employees to the proper solution, no matter how dedicated those employees may be, 

Take a look at the growing number of problem reports on this board, and note how long some have been up, how many have been responded to, and also how many have been marked as "solved".   In the previous version, if a day went by, that was worth noting.  Add to that the inability to post examples and solutions, which was quite common in the Finale Forum (yes, you can use Drop Box etc, but even there, there are issues with who gets to see what) and you have the beginnings of the storm of protest which many people feel was unheeded when this transition first began.

I'm not slamming the good people working here, they need time off, too. And I would be willing to bet serious cash that the total number of company employees who are assigned to assist us here is a very small percentage of the power users who spent theiroff hours helping people like me on the older forum....  but it's a problem, nonetheless.  In the older version, my answer (I live in Western Canada) could arrive while I slept from a user in Australia or Poland. Now, once the shop closes, everything waits.

At least for now.

I don't doubt that some (myself included) from the older forum will spend some time here, but in the end, they feel they have been wronged, and from a purely business case standpoint, it's never a good thing to do something that alienates an otherwise loyal customer base.

And for now, we feel alientated. As a result, we have chosen to find our own solution to the communication problems which MM appeared to be tone-deaf to.   That may change over time, but that lack of honest response- it still rankles.