This dialog should exist for a couple of releases. Did you check your ~/.gitconfig and .git/config files for this pull.rebase option?

The "anchor" seems to be set to the current branch (HEAD) which is not visible right now. You can set it to origin/develop by selecting the first commit and invoking View | Set Anchor Commit.

If you are having problems, please contact us at smartgit@syntevo.com and provide a screenshot for the Changes view illustrating the problem. Thanks in advance.

When switching from "View | Default Coloring" to "View | Branch Coloring", is this more understandable? Do you see some disadvantages compared to the "rainbow" Default Coloring?

Please right-click the line you want to stage. There you can find the requested options.

Next 8.1 preview build will color the merge commits gray and allows to configure this color.