I don't know if everyone already knows about this and I'm just the last one to figure it out, but you can add posts to your "Watchlist" and more easily keep an eye on threads that catch your interest.
I'm not quite sure why it took me over 1400 posts to make this "amazing" discovery, but all you do is go to the original post of the thread you wish to watch, click on the "Tools" menu and then click on the "Watch this Post" icon (that's the one that looks like a pair of binoculars).
Then as long as you're logged in you can go to your "Watchlist" by clicking the button next to "My Account" and you're taken to a list of your favorite threads. From there you can see if there are any new replies.
You can delete a thread from your watchlist by checking the box to the left of the post and clicking "Remove". You can also delete all threads from your watchlist by clicking the box to the left of Post Title and clicking "Remove". Whatever will they think of next.
