There was a box near the top that said something about changing carets. I hit “yes” but didn’t mean to. Now there is no red line that shows my last visit, and scrolling on the right seems different. Thanks for any help.
My last visit red line is back, but still choppy scrolling in the middle and on the right.
My last visit red line is only missing in Great Debates, but it is there in all the fora. I must have been in that forum when I changed whatever I did.
What are you describing as carets? Carets can be this symbol ^, or changing your browser to use the up, down and sideways arrow keys to navigate instead of a mouse or touchscreen. What browser are you on?
Thank you for your reply! I saw the word “carets” in a little window at the top of my screen and I hit “yes” by accident and changed something. I think it changed my navigation (the way it scrolls) and not just on Straight Dope. I have Firefox.
Aha. I know what it is. You turned on caret-based browsing.
You toggle it on and off by pressing the F7 key on your keyboard.
YAY!!!
Thank you BigT!
Shakes fist at @BigT . I knew that one! Happy Birthday to you anyway. Enjoy! 
How do you know that?
The caret thing or the birthday thing?
The caret I just picked up somewhere along the line.
The birthday because he has a pink birthday cake next to his name. Why, is it your birthday also? I can wish you a happy birthday too.
It was the birthday thing. The cake wasn’t there then, but now it is on March 16th. Thanks!
Happy Birthday BigT!
Carets are divine
You get a dozen for a dime
It’s maaaaaaaaagic! 
Was that necessary? What did any of us ever do to you?
@BigT deserves a caret cake.
mmm
He does, but he should have spoken up on his birthday. No late cakes allowed.
Who even uses this feature?!
I really don’t caret, do you?
Can someone please explain caretting to me? Hope it isn’t like dogging…
In case you’re not joking, caret-based browsing let’s you use the arrows on your keyboard to go through the text, moving a flashing line (called the caret or cursor) kinda like you can in a text document. It’s an accessibility feature for people who have trouble using the mouse.
Caret started being used for the text cursor so it wouldn’t be mixed up with the mouse cursor.
Not exactly like dogging, but there are overlaps. 
I tried not to, but the extra letter didn’t fit on my designer coat. 
So I ended up caretting.