[DonRotolo]

I'm going to answer this one without reading previous posts.

I check in to CD almost every night. I first check the User CP, to see if any of my subscribed threads (the number varies from zero to 4 or so) have responses, and if I got any new feedback.

Next step is to check "new posts", and I scan the message titles until the "line" that CD puts up (The threads beyond the line have no new posts since your last visit...). These days that's 3 pages of titles, summers it can be less than one. Interesting titles cause me to hover, displaying the first 3-4 lines of the thread. If all that interests me, or I just want to stay updated on a thread I remember, I go in.

Normally, I'm in and out in 10 minutes.

Every once in a while I'll have more time, in which case I'll read more threads (even beyond the 'line'), seek out older (1+ days) threads with 0 replies and throw the OP a bone, or just wander aimfully for some time.

So, in summary: User CP, New Posts, and gone.