First of all, the "you have posted in the thread" arrow isn't accurate. If I click on very my posts, it only gives that arrow for a handful of my own posts - so I've obviously posted in the thread. (This is why I always thought it meant someone replied to my post but then that never really panned out either)

Then there is the icon. A closed envelope in reality is something that has not been opened and hasn't yet been seen. An opened envelope with a letter visibly popping out clearly has already been handled and read. And yet, these icons are meant to demonstrate the exact opposite of that. An opened envelope means unread stuff and a sealed envelope means it's been read.

We also use colors to indicate if there are new posts or not as well, but these aren't consistent either. The 3 ideas that the colors are used to indicate aren't mutually exclusive. So when you have a hot post with new posts it doesn't get the new posts color, it gets the hot post color and so on.

Also, on another note, the hot or not coloring is basically indistinguishable from the new post color for color blind people. The difference is miniscule when side by side and I can't tell the difference if it's a standalone icon.

Just my thoughts, this has actually been driving me crazy for some time.

Your second sentence makes no sense to me, but I find the arrow to be bang on for me. Even shows me how many posts I have in the thread if I hover over it.

https://imgur.com/a/Nj1pXZx

This is what I see when I go to my own posts. Given that these are all posts where I've commented, it should have the arrow to indicate that I've commented here. It also is reminiscent of a reply arrow as well.

But not understanding that part means you have no comment on the rest?

Same as I do - those envelopes never show that you've replied. I would expect that's intentional, as it would be rather redundant. I believe the arrow is 100% accurate where it is used.

No, my having no comment had nothing to do with that sentence, of course. I just had no comment. But since you seem to really want some...

You're right about the envelope open/closed thing, but I've never noticed. You look at those much more than I do. I don't know anything about hot post or new post colours - if the thread title is bold, I know there are new posts, and that's good enough for me.

But something you should know is that this is off-the-shelf forum software that I don't expect we're able to customize at the granular level you're talking about.

ooooh a petition....

nay

fair enough

btw is your bio supposed to be progrock or Prufrock like J. Alfred, always wondered about that whenever you appear in a thread and shatter hopes and dreams :)

like J. Alfred