This is something I have found very frustrating, as well. There is no way at all to see if a thread has new answers, comments, or votes since the last time you checked it. So you have to screen over several pages, looking for the thread you want to see, only to find that nothing has happened with it lately (probably because nobody is seeing it anymore).

This is one of the issues I raised in another thread this morning ("Couple of Problems with the New Site"), along with a couple of other questions, but that thread is now at the bottom of page four, only 14 hours later, and no one has replied or commented since then. If this site continues to grow in popularity, it would not be hard to believe that there could be 10 or more pages of new threads in a day, and that in the not too distant future.

Another feature I miss is being able to see which threads I have read. On the other sight, a thread showed up in bold type if it was new or had new posts that I had not read (and of course, it jumped to the top of the list). So with one quick glance at the Forum's main page, I could see which categories had new posts or new threads, how long it had been since the last post, and if I had any new PMs. And the same was true within each category of the Forum; one glance showed me new threads and threads with new posts, both showing the author of the thread, the last person to post, and the time elapsed since the last post. And the PM status box followed me everywhere, even within the threads.

The ideal would be a different shade for new posts and comments, even if only in the "Oldest" ordering option. If you don't know which comments are new, you are forced to read the entire thread again to see if any of the comments are ones you hadn't read before.

Also, I just wanted to emphasize that it was important to me on the old site to be able to see the name of the last person to post, as well as the thread author's name.

As some of us like to follow certain members' answers, or ignore others' that are a waste of time, that was a valuable time saver when deciding which threads to visit again.

I agree. There is a difference between "threads to which there has been a recent reply." I and "Threads that have changed since I last viewed them." Obviously the latter can be a subset of the former. For those who sign-on several times a day (or, perhaps, whenever their supervisor (someone) is not observing them) the, the distinction can be quite significant. That there has been a change two/three hours ago may not be interesting if one has reviewed the responses an hour and a half ago. For practical reasons, this sort of distinction has to be tracked using "cookies", but I think that the added benefit to the user justifies the added effort needed for the tracking.

I think this question has been seen to, I am just checking in and see my answer on the top of the page. I think this has been a very important improvement.

Hi Heidi It only boosts to the top of the "hot" posts which I believe is set to default when you open answers.