# FOMO & Navigating the Dope **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594 "2025-01-05T20:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/1 "2025-01-05T20:44:38Z")
Not sure if this is the right forum. Move if necessary. What is your method/procedure for making fairly sure you sweep through the board and see the stuff that you are interested in? (FOMO = “fear of missing out”) During the recent past, I followed and “watched” trump and election threads, but I don’t any more. In the more distant past I had a protocol for navigating the various forums that made me think (or gave me the illusion anyway) that I was seeing stuff I was most interested in and not missing too much. Whatever I did back then, I have forgotten it and now I just usually look at “latest.” But even checking the board a couple of times a day isn’t doing the trick. I realized this when I saw @Czarcasm’s Go Fund Me post _three days after it had been started_! I don’t call that keep on top of things. 🧐 So how do y’all keep up? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/2 "2025-01-05T20:48:48Z")
A combination of New Posts and muting the (busy) ones that I’m not interested in. Even on vB almost exclusively used New Posts. I think that gets me a pretty good overview of what I want to see, but I’m still often surprised when I see a thread with dozens of posts (meaning it regularly popped up to the top of the New Posts list) that was started a few days earlier and I never noticed it. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/3 "2025-01-05T20:49:33Z")
I browse in sequence: FQ, CS, IMHO, Mipsips. The others are sprinkled in as time allows. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/4 "2025-01-05T20:50:10Z")
This forum is fine, it could have been #About This Message Board or #Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share also. MPSIMS would have had the least protection from off-topic observations and hijacks. Which might or might not be considered a good thing. I glance at every New thread typically. But largely in terms of seeing if they are spam and if they should be tagged or were incorrectly tagged. But I spend a lot of time on the board. I look more seriously at the new threads in my forums and #About This Message Board. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/5 "2025-01-05T20:54:25Z")
I start at the main forums page. First, I check out the “new” posts, tracking any I find interesting. Then I check out the “unread” posts that I’m tracking. Repeat every time I visit. I’ve noticed that on my first visit each day, there are usually around 42 unread posts. Weird how it works out that way. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/6 "2025-01-05T20:58:38Z")
I have threads I’ve replied in, and a very occasional thread I haven’t replied in but am really interested in, set to Tracking. Those threads will show up on a page called Unread if they have new posts in them; so I start there. Then I’ll check New, to see if anything new has shown up that I might be interested in. Then, though not as often, I’ll check Latest: just in case some old thread that I wasn’t interested in enough the first time for it to wind up set to Tracking is currently active, or some thread old enough to be from before I started posting, but that I’m interested in, has started up again. Once in a long time I’m looking for something half remembered, in which case I might check what seems like likely categories for it if none of the above has shown it up. > [@aurora\_maire](#): > > I’ve noticed that on my first visit each day, there are usually around 42 unread posts. Weird how it works out that way. Because 42 is the answer, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/7 "2025-01-05T21:19:18Z")
I rarely have time anymore to surf the SDMB, but because I’ve been here long enough that many of you guys are like family, I really try to focus on my tracked threads, FQ, MPSIMS, ATMB, and _maybe_ IMHO. Depends on how much time I’ve got. A while back, I cleaned out all of the threads I was tracking–in some cases going all the way back to 2000, due to the migration to Discourse! Now, if I see a thread in my quick scans, I’ll track it to come back to later. After a few weeks, or my interest wanes, I’ll untrack a thread. I’ve only really got 4 or 5 tracked at any given tIme. Tripler That little ‘Suggested Threads’ at the bottom of the page does help sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/8 "2025-01-05T21:30:57Z")
I check the Game Room daily (or 5-6 days a week). I browse the other forums depending on time. I know I will occasionally miss out on an interesting thread. Like a lot of things, this board isn’t the same as it was ten years ago much less 20 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/9 "2025-01-05T22:40:42Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I browse in sequence: > FQ, CS, IMHO, Mipsips. Do you look at “new” or “latest”? Which might not be the same thing. * * * > [@What\_Exit](#): > > This forum is fine, it could have been… I thought it would get the most views in IMHO. * * * > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m still often surprised when I see a thread with dozens of posts (meaning it regularly popped up to the top of the New Posts list) that was started a few days earlier and I never noticed it. _That’s_ what I’m talkin’ 'bout. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/10 "2025-01-05T22:41:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I thought it would get the most views in IMHO. As good a reason as any. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/11 "2025-01-05T23:10:59Z")
I go through the 8 forums in which I am interested (the others are muted) and work my way down to the “last visit” line in each forum. That takes care of new threads and short threads. In some forums there are a few long threads which I read and participate in. Once I give up on a long thread, because I have lost interest or can’t bear to read it any more, that thread feels like it is lost forever and I will never be able to catch up again. Under great duress, if I feel the need to dip back into a long thread, i will scoot down to the bottom and then back up a couple of days’ worth, and start reading down from there. I don’t try that very often. Another thing I do, with threads that I never participated in and which seemed perhaps superficial or anyway uninteresting, if I notice that they have accumulated a lot of posts over time, my inner voice will say “what can they still be talking about after all this time?” so I dip into it, as in the previous paragraph, to see where they are. Usually the thread will have drifted until they are on a very different subject, barely related to where they started out. I may or may not start participating at that point. That’s it, that’s my strategy. I’m sure I miss a lot of stuff, especially if the thread title is unclear or unspecific. I am grateful for the moderator policy for specific thread titles. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/12 "2025-01-05T23:13:56Z")
I see a message saying “x New or Updated Topics” if I come back to the open window after a break. I click on that or hit refresh to get all the latest. I leave it set on “categories” so that I see them all, except the ones I’ve muted. Then I look for the blue dot that indicates a new thread and also look for the blue oval that gives the numbers of new posts to a thread I’ve been reading. I assume all the themes have that or something similar. And even then, like the rest of you, I’m occasionally surprised by a thread that I can’t imagine I would have passed up if I had seen it earlier. If we’re all having that issue, then it’s Discourse’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/13 "2025-01-05T23:58:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Do you look at “new” or “latest”? I hadn’t realized there were options but Latest. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/14 "2025-01-06T00:05:44Z")
There are New, Latest, and Unread [ETA: oh, and Top and Categories]; though finding your Unread page may take a bit of doing. You can set your base board page to open in it [or any of the others], though, in your preferences. (Preferences – interface – default home page.) At the bottom of every thread (at least in this skin and on this computer) there are options; if you set a thread to Tracking it’ll show up on your Unread page. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/15 "2025-01-06T00:07:51Z")
AIUI, “new” is _new_ to you since you last refreshed that window.“Latest” is _most recently posted._ Somebody correct me if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/16 "2025-01-06T00:40:29Z")
Every weekday I go through Questions, Cafe, In My Opinion, & Misc and read the posts that are new since I last looked at it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/17 "2025-01-06T01:42:02Z")
I configured my preferences for New to be topics created in the last 5 days. And I configured my preferences to automatically mark anything I read for 4 minutes or posted to as “tracking”. With that configuration in place, my brower favorite goes to the [New topics] page. So I see _every_ new topic since long before the last time I was here. I ctrl-click on each thread that seems interesting to open it in a new tab. Then refresh [new topics] to see what’s left. If it’s all uninteresting, click [dismiss new] to make them dissappear, otherwise ctrl-click the interesting ones & repeat. At this point every new thread started in the last 5 days has been evaluated by me and is either dismissed as uninteresting or is marked as tracking & unread. Now read those other tab(s) in turn. Partly or to the end. If, when I’m at the bottom or bored reading, I’m still interested in the topic, just close the tab. It’ll be in my unread list wherever I left off if I haven’t finished it or whenever in the future anyone else posts to it. Easy peasy. Conversely if I decide the thread has turned uninteresting or bad, update the status to [Normal] and then close the tab. If somebody pings or quotes me I’ll be notified otherwise it’ll sink into the sludge of old dead threads I don’t care about. Now switch to [Unread topics]. That’s every thread I decided I care about at some point in the last 20 years that has _any_ posts I haven’t yet read. So starting from the bottom / oldest post, control-click a few of them to open in new tabs. Then close the unread tab and work through reading those. If I’ve lost interest, change the tracking to [Normal] & close the tab. Otherwise just close the the tab. Then open [Unread] again & repeat until bored, or Ineed to quit to eat, sleep, or poop, or I’ve read everything up to current. Im every case Discourse knows where I stopped reading thatbthread and will automatically restart my reading there the next time I click [unread] The result of this method is once I decide I’m interested in a thread I see absolutely positively every post in it nextvtime I check in. And I get a chance to be notified of absolutely every new thread. And once I decide I don’t care, or no longer care, about a thread I’m not bothered by it again until somebody quotes or @'s me. IMO this is the optimal way to avoid FOMO and to let the automation do all the hard work. IMO [Latest] is for noobs who have no Idea how to use the app to their advantage. I _never_ use Latest. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/18 "2025-01-06T02:58:36Z")
Holy crap, my friend. 😲 You play this board like a freakin’ Steinway. Tomorrow I’m going to study this post and endeavor to follow your example. I may have questions. 👍🏼 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/19 "2025-01-06T03:22:53Z")
Here’s me explaining the same idea to somebody else in perhaps simpler, or at least different, terms. One of these posts may help clarify confusions raised in the other. > [@Here is a way to view all of your muted threads](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-way-to-view-all-of-your-muted-threads/1005802/20): > > Aha. IMO Latest posts is the most useless thing. Since, as you’ve noticed, it throws up all sorts of stuff you’re not interested in. And forces you to take active measures to push the junk out of the way. My habit FWIW, is to start on New posts; that’s where my one and only SDMB browser favorite goes. From teh New list I open all the ones that look interesting in new tabs, then click [Dismiss New] to hide the rest from the New list. Then I’ll go read those new posts in their separate tabs. … I know there’s another thread where I did this too, but I cant find it tonight. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594/20 "2025-01-06T03:37:05Z")
Roger that. 🫡 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fomo-navigating-the-dope/1012594.md?page=2)