Basically everyone agrees that this UI change was a mistake

I don't mean to be unreasonably harsh, and have no ill will towards anyone involved, but there is no other way to put this and still be honest

There's a bunch of small changes and nearly every single one of them has a negative effect on user experience. The thin lines between messages were able to break up the chat and make it easier on the eyes, and now that's gone and it's more claustrophobic and worse to look at. The new reaction setup is noticeably intrusive without any benefit whatsoever. The new unread notification just doesn't look as good

I'm sorry, but there is no fixing these changes, and the only way to satisfy your userbase at this point is to roll back the changes entirely. If you want UI updates down the line, role them out slower so that you have time to think them through

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