I'm a member of website that has various online forums and whenever someone "quotes" you or leaves a reply in a forum you started, you get a little icon on the top of the page that tells you that you have " (however many) Notifications ". You click on it and it brings you to your home page where you can see the notification such as someone replying to your topic. I think it'd be a whole lot more helpful to people if the little account bar on the left of this website displayed notifications such as "you have a reply to _______ thread that you started" or "you've been quoted on _______" . Something like that would make it easier to keep up with all the topics you post on if you post a lot in the forums.