I’ve got my preferences set to take me to Unread; if I want a specific category, or a page showing all the categories, they’re both right there at the top of the Unread page, along with “new” and “latest” which are the other ways I usually browse.
I’m just like you. My browser favorite takes me to Unread and that plus New is where I live. I rarely have any need to visit a category page, much less the roster of categories page.
Click on the Straight Dope banner at the top of every page. That will take you to the SDMB main page which lists all of the categories, and also shows a list of the most recent posts on the right.
I did not say that very clearly. I apologize for the confusion.
I know where that page is and how to get there. I was actually trying to ask @thorny_locust what their workflow process was that led them to whichever forum roster page they were seeing but not liking. With the intent of me, armed with that context, then suggesting an alternate workflow that worked with their grain so to speak to achieve the same ends they wanted but more smoothly.
Turns out they already do things mostly as I might have suggested, so my whole line of questioning is moot.
Sorry to have triggered excess work for a couple kind folks.
I don’t think I was the one who was seeing but not liking some forum page. I was just commenting that I didn’t know the hamburger menu had “all that stuff” in it.
Quite right. Double-checking now I see that was @SCAdian. Sorry to mis-accuse you of something not of your doing. 
'Sok. I’m weird, I’m just comfortable with it.
Please, please tell me how to mute. I have not been fortunate enough to figure it out.
This thread will help:
Some related FAQ stuff:
You can turn off the alerts with ease. Go down to where is says Tracking or Watching and change it to normal.
How do I unsubscribe from a thread?
Both for a Computer & Mobile should be the same.
There is a Watching or Tracking button on the page to the left side below the last post. Click that and choose Normal
IMHO, it’s time to retire the “Quarantine” forum, and fold its threads* into ex-Mundane.
(For the record, I have always taken the COVID-19 crisis very seriously; I’m fully vaccinated; I suffered a bad bout a year ago; etc.)
I just think we’re reaching the point now where it’s not much more a “thing” than other diseases (not to minimize the ongoing devastation for grieving families). Still important and sometimes newsworthy, but not enough to have its own Straight Dope forum.
(*Maybe the Mods are reluctant to discontinue the forum, because it will take a lot of work to distribute its threads properly — some are factual questions, others are opinions… Not sure if there’s a solution for that.)
I think we’re going to leave it as is, but maybe a decision will be made to close it to new posts. Not sure.
I hope so. Don’t put that evil (the content of the quarantine forum) in my forum (MPSIMS).
Or if y’all do decide to retire quarantine, move it to P&E.
So you’ll quarantine it?
Heh.
Okay, I guess…but it will increasingly look like an odd historical relic (we hope!), similar to if we all had a “Sept. 11, 2001 and aftermath” forum over the last decades, and still today.
That really isn’t a problem though and sorting and moving the threads would be a lot of work.
I guess first I would tag all of them. Then the QZ mods would probably have to sort them out.
Or just let Discobot have a crack at it! (is he/she/it using AI yet?)
I’m really glad it’s becoming a relic, but leaving it as it is for now isn’t hurting anything.
Hey! < shaking fist >
In fact, some would-be new problem posters might be deterred from posting here, seeing how old-fashioned we are.
(But others might see us as easy troll bait, for the same reason…)
As a QZ mod, it’s not something I’m really seeing. But please do flag it if you do.
Dumb question: do threads have to be in a forum? All the threads are tagged “The Quarantine Zone”, so they can be found again. What if the forum just disappeared, as in no longer listed as a category on the page https://boards.straightdope.com/ ?