One has to be a member to "trace" or "bookmark" a thread.

It must also be remembered that the member must remember to log in when returning - as the same member - to be able to get to the bookmarks and traces on the member's personal page.

Anyone, member or otherwise, can put a thread in their browser favorites, to be able to come back to it at any time. Just "add to favorites" with the thread open. IE at least will use the thread title as the "name" it shows in the list of favorites, and I'd assume other browsers work much the same. (Don't forget that favorites can be deleted as well, when they start to pile up so deep you can't remember why you put them there.

If you click in the list at the top of the thread page, to go to a specific post, the URL shown at the top will be for the individual post, and it can be "added to favorites" in your browser if you want to be really specific about where you come back.

For guests here, the Refresh box at the top of the "Lyrics and Knowledge" page, with number of days to go back is probably the most direct method. If one can remember at least one word from the thread title, putting it in the big box will greatly reduce the amount of shi lyrics and knowledge you have to scroll through to find the one you want.

And if you know you're likely to be away for a while, copying the thread URL from your browser and pasting it in a page in your word processor for future reference is another way of getting back. (Putting the thread title with the URL is recommended.)

Or you can just hang around and watch until the thread comes back up because somebody added something to it. Just recently a thread started in 1995(?) requesting a song slipped out of sight with only one or two BtSOM posts in reply, and then a week or so ago it popped up when someone posted the requested lyric.

If a thread you're watching gets close to the bottom of the page, and is in danger of slipping off, it's generally permissible to post to it (include "refresh" if you have nothing else to say) to bring it back to the top for another day. I seem to recall a "birthday thread" that was kept in sight for a couple of months after the originator started it on the wrong date - a year or so ago?

John