So you're complaining that you can't get a filtered stream of posts without having to use the feature for filtering your stream?No, I'm not.
It's not like you have to do it more than once per circle you want to exclude.
I have, say, a dozen circles. Can you tell me how I can quickly choose to view a stream that consists of all of the content from only a subset of those circles? Then quickly choose a different subset of circles? Or view a stream of all content except those in the PostTooMnayPictures circle?
I know of no way to do any kind of circle grouping/ungrouping, but if it's there I'd love to know about it.
The plus/minus extension allowed this by turning the list of circles into a multi-select checklist. Two seconds to change to any subset of circles to view.
Edit: It looks like the +/- developer is planning on updating his extension to work with the new layout
https://plus.google.com/117134788479394921938/posts
I'm thinking the other layout issues (too much whitespace, useless menu-y cruft) can be fixed with greasemonkey.