Mav
Have you ever tried to figure out the rules of chess (or any other game) just by watching it being played? You always come pretty close, but can be sure there will be one or two obscurities you are likely to miss (I've never seen the en passant move used in any master game, though I've trapped a few tyros with it in my time).
With which qualification, here's my thoughts.
In Flat mode
1. If you view in 'show all' mode, rather than page by page, the posts you've seen will still show as new. The thread will not.
In threaded mode
2. In general, posts you have not seen will show up as new, but there are exceptions.
3. If you jump into any forum, and then leave, none of the threads will show as new any more. If you go into the newer looking threads, though, within the same session, you can see which actually have posts that are new to you (they have orange instead of yellow icons).
4. If you leave a forum before checking all new posts, and you quit the board as well, threads as well as posts tend not to show up as new.
As a result (and as an addict of the threaded mode), I tend to sticvk with a forum (and ideally the board) until I have read all the new posts. Sometimes, if I can't do that, I go back to the most recently modified threads and look for posts that aren't in my 'history' (showing up as purple instead of red/blue headings).
I am sure that I haven't really sussed out all the ramifications of the 'new' threads for old rules, but maybe these few rough guides will help you.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
