The problem is that there is no easy way for me to manage all that information.

When you drain or unvisit a topic, a database record is made to keep that information. Then, when I fetch topics, I cross-reference with those stored drains and unvisits. That currently works pretty well.

But allowing mass-draining or "visiting" of topics would create an issue since Pinside currently holds over 200,000 topics and imagine storing a "read" flag for (even a small subset of) our 44,000 members. I fear that would generate way too much data and make the site a lot slower etc.

The only way I can imagine to do this would be by storing some kind of arbitrary date, e.g. when you last visited. Then hide everything that was there before that date. Or something like that.

Mark, you should use the Topics which you Viewed with the Hide Idle setting on.

It will keep your 'active' threads on top of the list and will only show those items that have new postings since you last read it.

To remove topics you don't want to see anymore or opened by accident, just unvisit them using the buttons on the top or bottom of the thread. It won't get rid of all topics, as there will be more at the bottom, but this makes it very easy to keep on top of the threads I like.

Then a couple of times a day I look at the Topics started Recently. I hardly ever go to the main page anymore.

Robin,

I know you can't drain or unvisit all the threads, but a very useful feature would be to add a date filter like your Hide Idle filter.

Something like Only Display Topics with activity in the last 1/7/30 days.