The active topics page is awesome. Here's what I do about a hundred times a day....
1. Go to the active topics page.
2. Ctrl-Click on all the topics you want to read so they open in a new tab. (Most browsers do that)
3. Go to the last tab and work backwards closing them as you're done.
4. When you get back to the active topics page click the

button (top left) to mark them as
all read.
5. If any topics updated while you were reading or posting, they will automagically pop up.
6. Lather, Rinse, Repeat until you're all caught up.
You won't miss a thing this way. 
And as a bonus, when you're all caught up, you'll see a list of newly listed items on
ebay from our established members (100 posts) only, complete with images.