Why is it, as soon as I log in, all the symbols showing new posts have vanished? I end up having to search through all the dates.

Hi Diana, Those icons basically work with the logic that when you once land on forum page it shows you icon with any new post since your last visit. When you login and return, you are basically coming on forum page second time and it assumes that you have seen them and that there are no new ones since your last visit. So you do not see any icon.

hope this helps
john