I’m with you on this one. I understand why a minimalist design might lend itself to a mobile-centric experience with the small screen form factor, but most people who post here are likely using a desktop or a laptop.
Hiding basic user information like post counts, badges, and signatures behind sub-menus on a desktop experience just seems rather unnecessary. It kind of feels like the equivalent of porting a console game to PC without considering the additional benefits of a mouse/keyboard based interaction system. I would much rather see at least the basic/most relevant information directly instead of it requiring two additional mouse clicks.
And besides the usability factor, things like post count & badges also help in the same way Answer Hub score motivates people to engage with that platform. It may not be the reason why we’re all here, but having additional bits of motivation like that certainly doesn’t hurt.
Having said that, I really appreciate the drop-down menu in the new search. Makes finding and getting to a required post a lot faster than before.