I never minded the appearance too much, but the usability bothered me. I month or two ago I tried some of the chrome extensions (specifically HackerNew[1]), and it's made a big difference. In-line replies, hover to see user stats, collapsible threads, etc. I'm not enamored with the infinite scroll, but it's not horrible.

It makes it look a little slicker too, but I truly couldn't care less about that.

[1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernew/lgoghlnd...