It actually wasn't something planned. I've been working on the backend for awhile for a new forum look. I can actually install multiple styles and users can choose which they like best, and each style is altered independently. For this style to work, a change was needed that was global. In the end I didn't like the style and deleted it, and apparently left the global change in place. It's just a simple template edit.
At any rate, I'll leave this thread open for more feedback. I can change it back if enough don't like it, or leave it, up to the community as a whole.