. . . and i was almost certain it would have been a great place to add the following ( at the risk of being politely booted by a very pretty lady that monitors my words very carefully for being off topic [ shields up, Scotty ] ):

There is apparently no means to follow a conversation thread in the forums, either automatically by simply participating in that thread, or as an atomic button at the bottom of the specific thread's page. I think it would do wonders toward a more socially aimed atmosphere for this site. It would be a lot easier to "mingle" in the big room compared to how it appears right now to be more like selectively poking one's head into somebody's private office cubicle while strolling down the hall.

Just my two cents. [ monitor shields off. warp 2 helmsman, engage . . . ]

When the site prepares for overhaul they will have the
Feedback forum up, just for that.

Have you tried following your own threads here?
http://mingle2.com/topic/participated_in/12051069

Or following current topics:
http://mingle2.com/forum/recent_posts