Just to add to what geo and others have said, my typical section of Flyertalk includes these steps:

Open my USAirways bookmark and view all new messages. like geo I read every message (and reply to most of them! <g> )

Open my 'posted today' bookmark and read only those that interest me, which are interestingly enough posts complaining about United, Marriott, Hertz and iterinaries.

Works for me. If I am bored, I'll open up other threads like I did right now. No muss, no fuss!