Nowadays the unread topics list is mostly a heap of threads where the same tired posters incessantly bash each other over frivolities. Certainly this lowers the attractiveness of the forum for new and current science-oriented users, who may wander off to other sites or quit altogether, while rant-oriented users are attracted and proliferate.
I'm going to try and see if I can keep the 'Recent Posts' list exclusive for Arctic-related topics. I've tried this before, but couldn't find anything. I'll make more of an effort this time.
And otherwise, it might be best to get rid of the 'Recent Posts' list altogether, and I would recommend everyone to click the 'notify' button for the threads they're interested in (that's how I do it, I don't even watch the 'Recent Posts' list).
To be continued...
And sorry for the off-topic, but it is important.
Edit: Found something, will try to implement tomorrow, no time now.
while as always things remain your choice i find every topic and everything people share in this forum interesting enough to read. does not necessarily mean that everything is good and agreed upon of course but before building an opinion of his own one should read.
for this reason i love the last read list because i simply open each one in a new tab and read or close the window if i have no time or no interest at the moment.
what's so difficult to choose and discard posts that are not for one person while another is interested and glad to be able to sift through them within half a minute or so?
one of the bigger while not recognized problems of our times is that everything has to be (is) specialised and fractured into a multitude of fields of expertise while in fact we should go back to see the whole picture more than detached details.
often solutions are making things worse because they are to narrow minded, focused on one or few fields of expertise while there is a complex system to deal with where everything is on whole.
a wholistic approach is what i'm talking about and the fact that many so called experts feel offended when they have to deal with information and discussions injected from the side is only making things worse.
another example how within a small group of people where the basic goal is the same or very similar, participants discredit each other.
BTW who complains about all this is off-topic him/herself and i totally disagree that an open discussion of any topic can be damaging itself.
if someone does not like some content he can simply go to the next post or skip for the moment.
we should pick up folks where they are, following a lonely eluded expert path will not lead to any mass-movement which is what we need to change the thinking pattern and behaviour of a multi-billion population.
i know the counter arguments to this which is why i said, your forum, your choice but i like it as it is.