On the old forum, my clan's recruitment rate was really good, because all topics that were recently active were at the top of the forum's main page. Now, in order to find our page, you have to dig pretty deep and no one new has asked to join for a while. I would like to see the return of the hot topics section. I don't really see how this idea could hurt anyone. If someone constantly bumps their topic, just remove it.
(Quite ironic how no one's gonna read this because of the lack of my suggestion.)