Well, I don't disagree with you on the consistency bit, because I found myself always trying to click on the thread starter username when I had it in simple view, and my users complained about not being able to see their own avatar over the thread starter's avatar so that they knew they'd posted in those threads. So that would have to be put back and they'd have to make the username and date clickable to have all the things users are used to elsewhere on the forums, and they'd have to do it all in a tight space and make it so that users weren't often accidentally clicking the wrong links. Not sure it would still be simple view then.
And the prefixes only sort by forum, right? So not sure how that could work right now on the What's New page.
While we're on it, though, have you noticed that clicking the new_threads header or the "View more" button at the bottom both take you to new posts? I've already made a post about it, but yeah, there's another thing that needs a second look. Makes no sense why a user would click either expecting to be taken to new posts. I'm guessing it was just because they had no default new threads page and felt they had to link to something related. 
EDIT: Ha ha, sorry, I was just reminded that you had been talking about the New Posts widget specifically and I had veered into talking about the New Threads widget.
