[keywonc]

Mixing new and top posts in one view and make it more 'blind' has some aesthetical merits, I agree.

A tradeoff here is that you can lose a fairly significant amount of transparency and user control: Currently "new" and "front" are mapped to specific user intent (front = consume, new = curate). When you take away the ability to make explicit choices beyond some level, it could backfire.

Also, mixing them into one page is subject to controlling many variables (ratio of new vs. top, details of look and feel, etc.). I think it's worthwhile to look for a simpler approach first.