When I check out a forum, I click twice on the top of the first page of a forum where it says 'Views'.
The first click sorts the total list with least viewed at the top and the second puts the most viewed at the top. Then I can read the most popular threads, which are generally popular for a reason. I can find out about the things that I didn't know I wanted to find out about.
Next I do the same thing on the 'Replies' column. Same reason.
Then I go back to normal viewing based on the latest threads.