Something I'm REALLY appreciating now, especially as somebody who tries to at least have a skim of every post, is that- once I log on, I don't HAVE to read every post in the next 20 minutes before I lose my new markers.
If I'm busy, and have just 5 minutes, I can log in, read a few posts- and then come back some time later, and have my "new" posts preserved. That's worth it's weight in gold. If I don't want the new posts, I can just mark as read.
Though one option which would be good, is to have a hybrid- something which showed you all posts since the last time you were logged on, but showing threads as read or unread. It's almost like two options (which the user could select):
.New Posts- showing all threads which had contributions since the last time you were logged on- regardless of whether you had read them or not
.Unread posts- showing any threads where there were posts which you had not read.
The new version uses "Unread posts"- which is extremely useful- but calls them "new posts". Both views have advantages. If vBulletin gave users a choice, it would be good to be able to select one choice or the other.
My biggest problem with the new version is, that when I reply to a thread, the thread, including my reply, becomes read, and no longer shows up in the New Threads. A much smaller problem is that I can select a thread to read, and not read it; in the old system, I could lose that window (user error), and still be able to find it easily.
The quick link to "Todays Posts" is the format I would like to see- the only difference being that it shows all posts since the time I last logged on- not all posts in the last 24 hours, and not all posts I have not read.