Would it be possible to add an option to select ordering the Forum topics by most recent post dates? some of them are quite old. Maybe even by the dreaded MicroSludge optional date/filename/size/whatever sort method.

Pretty sure mine were always ordered by post date. But there are "stickies" at the top, some of which are indeed very old. You can tell them apart by their icons.

If you click "mark all forums read", you'll be able to tell at a glance where the new messages are next time you visit.

Edit: Or do you mean most recent comment date?