I've got an idea for Philipp:
what if you include a snippet from the last comment of a thread in the title attribute of the link to that comment from the forum page?

Something like this:

http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/4793/2004955519915941197_rs.jpg

ahhhhhhhh.. that makes sense Ionut – for a minute you had me hopping thru loops wondering what your trying get across.

A mouse over /hover method which floats a snip of the last comment- maybe like the first 64 chars or so..-

Sounds a neat!!

Hmm, it's not really the complete solution, because the interesting comment might be the second-last one that was posted, not the last.

I'd prefer a cookie-based solution that shows all threads with activity since my last viewing (or better still, all posts since my last viewing).

Yes, but the links "x minutes ago" sends you to the last comment, so the snippet would be appropriate.

Good idea. I'll see about that.

Also mayb write after "By XUSER" the time the FIRST post was made , or mayb the article was posted. Sometimes i go in the forum and keep wondering how old that article is.

yea, Ramibotros has a good point on that.

If the first line could look like : "1st Posted on: DD/MM/YY" indicator would be an added bonus!!