Marking topics, or new notification

I was just curious about this feature. After I read a specific thread, is the exclamation point supposed to not be there? Even if I read a thread, that mark is still there. The only way I've found to get rid of the mark is to click 'mark topics read' which is a bit annoying to do for each thread. I have firefox with the cookies enabled and all, just curious if I'm not doing something right.

Also, if you wouldn't mind a suggestion, I think it'd be much more noticeable to have something like the exclamation point on the far left, but have it be orange or some brighter color if you've not read it, so you can more easily tell if there is something new in a thread you are interested in. If it could mark them off automatically after you view it, it'd be great. Thanks! *** Edited 4/6/2005 4:08:44 AM UTC by Mathew***

I know Jeff mentioned something in the past (I can't seem to find it here or at Coasterbuzz, however) about how he hates how he feels like he needs to read every post in a thread or forum when he loads it, and leaves the button there instead.

You mark a forum read at a time. The indicator stays there until you mark them all read. That won't change until next version, if it changes at all.

There's a natural progression to reading through topics on a particular forum. You start with the oldest new one, read it, then click "next newest" until there are no newer topics.