And why?
For me, when I get to work in the morning, I go:
The real divider for me though is between IMHO and MPSIMS. I have to look at the first three, but after that, it depends on how bored I am.
Like now.
I rarely start threads, but of course, when I do, I get: “The server at boards.straightdope.com is taking too long to respond.” Sigh.
Finally.
I always do the Pit first. If I finish it before the day is out, I go to MPSIMS. On rare occasions I might go to GD or GQ. I only read CS if there is a show or song I particularly like.
Interesting. I browse in the exact same order, except I don’t ever go to GD because I don’t care to read debates.
For years I actually only ever read GQ. Now I wonder how I ever got by with so little content 
I don’t browse the forums as such. I bring up New Posts and look over the list for topics of interest. If I have been posting to a thread I will look back to see if further involvement is appropriate.
Now and then I’ll do a “vanity search” (on my username) to see if something older than a New Post has had any action or if my name has been mentioned somewhere.
My rationale is that anything I’d want to see is either still active or has just showed up. New Posts gives me that and the way threads get moved about from forum to forum makes me avoid that confusion by just looking at the topics without having the filter of which forum it may be in at the moment.
Hope that helps.
From the bottom up, sometimes skipping the Pit, sometimes skipping GD.
I do not like confrontation.
Good idea, Zeldar.
I generally start with Cafe Society, then move on to IMHO, Pit, GQ, GD. Very few debates interest me, and most Pit threads are the same old whining. You get some good stuff in there sometimes, but the signal/noise ratio just doesn’t cut it for me. I’m much more of a chat, recipes, did you see that last night? kinda guy.
I just hit “New Posts” and look for interesting topics, no matter the forumn. This, for me, is the most exciting way to browse the SD.
I seldom make it through the first 3 in a day, however.
Eli
These days, I don’t browse the forums very often. I have my “User Control Panel” bookmarked so I click that to bring me to the board and check my subscribed threads. Then I click on “New Posts” to see what people are chatting about across all the forums.
I guess if I were really bored and were to browse the forums, it’d be:[ol]
[li]CS or GQ[/li][li]IMHO[/li][li]MPSIMS[/li][li]BBQ[/li][li]GD[/li]and if I were so bored I was practically catatonic,
[li]ATMB[/li][li]CoCC[/li][li]CoSR[/li][/ol]
New Posts, then I open any interesting-looking threads in new tabs. Once I’ve made my way through all the New Posts pages and opened the thread I want, I read away (usually over breakfast, lunch, etc.). Lather, rinse, repeat throughout the day.
If Cecil’s column or one of the staff reports hits on a subject I am particularly interested in, I may go into the corresponding comments forum. Other than that, I don’t venture into the other forums much. I have no interest at all in the pit.
I also started out only with GQ, then branched out into other forums.
I work my way up from the Pit at the bottom to General Questions, but I skip Great Debates, which I only browse sometimes. The great thing is that, since I only read the Dope during breaks, by the time I finish reading General Questions there is enough new material to occupy me in the Pit and I start the process over.
1.) New threads
2.) MPSIMS
3.) GQ
4.) GD
I almost never look at the other forums.
Ah, the beauty of starting a thread. I did not even know there was a “New Posts” link right smack dab there to click on until now. I’m going to give this a try for awhile, although I sense that I might feel some irritation of not knowing what forum I’m in.
FWIW, the only reason to know which forum you’re in is whether or not you can cuss, or whether you can give sarcastic answers. If all you have to go by is the OP you may want to check the forum to know how to proceed. But if there have been other posts, go with the flow.
And there’s always the handy-dandy Hijack which can force the thread at least into another direction, produce a spinoff, or get the mods to either a) move it elsewhere, or b) lock it up. Just tread softly so as not to get banned.
When in doubt, go with one of the long-standing cliches to appear to be participating. Thinks like bringing pie, death rays, band names, or a friendly shoutout to Opal.
I was just thinking about asking this.
I read them in this order:
[ul]
[li]BBQ Pit[/li][li]In My Humble Opinion[/li][li]Great Debates[/li][li]General Questions[/li][li]Cafe Society[/li][li]MPSIMS[/li][/ul]
It’s an unintentional and weird pattern. I completely skip the SDMB-specific forums, then start from the bottom and hit every other one on the way up, then starting at the topmost unread/“interesting” forum, hit every other one on the way down.
Occasionally the Cafe, if I’ve browsed through all the others. I can’t debate, so I never go in there. ATMB maybe once a month.
MPSIMS
BBQ Pit
IMHO
If it’s the middle of the night and nothing’s happening in those three forums, I’ll glance at CS and GD. I visit ATMB once every few months.