I think the software has a fresh, new look. I’m over-the-hill in age, so I’m trying to keep an open mind. But to be honest, although I can use it (more or less) I really don’t care for Discourse too much. To me it looks like somebody was trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist. And I’ve noticed some peculiar behavior (other than the JavaScript issues) that don’t make sense to me. Probably I should spend a few hours more on the interface to figure out how the “unread” and “new topics” co-exist. But, well, I’ll do that someday when I have more time. …or maybe not.
New is for new threads that you haven’t seen before. Unread is for threads you’ve seen/participated in that have new content since you last looked. 
Allow me to correct you here… Discourse doesn’t use threads… they use topics instead. 
Sorry, couldn’t resist 
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I guess I can’t count, because the numbers don’t track in accordance with your explanation. For example, right now the “phrase” at the bottom of the forums tells me that I have 6 Unread and 492 New topics. (Perhaps, there’s some sort of “cap” on the New because the 492 is the top number I’ve seen, and I’ve already read the 6 purportedly new ones.) Be that as it may, although I don’t fully understand the motivation, I am rooting for something new that works out. I just wonder whether, perhaps, this is not it.
Yes, when the older vB posts were first migrated over I noticed the same thing. No matter how many I read the count always stayed about the same.
If you’re relatively certain you aren’t interested in reading them and it bothers you or interferes with your use-flow, you could try “Dismiss Unread”
Thank you. I tried that. It still shows up as 492. Puzzling.
Interesting. I cleared(dismissed) everything I could find. I still had the 492. So I shut down the browser and used CCleaner.
Then logged in, and that cleared up the 492. I wonder if it will “last” for a day or so?
Sometimes I find a “hard refresh” of the browser is the only way to clear the numbers.
No, it is 492 New. So you need to visit the New tab and click the Dismiss New button 
Undoubtedly I could be incorrect, but it appears to take awhile to “fill up” to the 492 number. I don’t visit here all that often, but now I’m back up to 492. oh well, no big deal.
A larger annoyance I’ve encountered–there is no “post” date on responses. For example, I was reading an older thread where the OP requested a response prior to end of Jan. Then there were a dozen or so responses. I’m really quite interested in the topic, but don’t know whether it’s too late to respond or ask a question. There is a date on the initial post, but on following responses, there is a “post number” and a “number of days” count at the top right of the last response: For example, preceding my response here I see: 16d #30 That just isn’t intuitive, in my opinion.
I don’t know; I may have to remove my socks to count the days from the first post date???
Heh, I don’t find the day count a problem, but to each their own. Anyhow, if you click on the 16d bit a popup shows the actual date.
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It is a “share link”, but the date is there if you need to see it
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I agree - it’s one of the things I dislike about Discourse. Posts made in the preceding 30 days show a day count; posts made before that show an actual date. (But posts made earlier than this year will show month and year, but not actual day.) You can access the information by hovering (not clicking) on the time stamp (16d, 2h - whatever) - but of course that’s useless to keyboarders - and, presumably, touch screen users.
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It never ran on phpBB
I was thrilled to see that Sitepoint got itself a Discourse forum.
Sure, Discourse still has improvements to make, but I’d say it’s lightyears ahead of the older standards.
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