Basically what the title says, it'd be nice if boards didn't show up as unread when there's been a post in a thread that isn't accessible to the public. For example any post in the seekrit business board.

Well, it is just a frickin highlited bold.
It's not like it has a checkmark or something significant telling you it's unread....
This, while is something that could be fixed, is pointless to fix.
Site Devs need to be focusing on bigger problems. Although it would be a simple max 10-minute fix, it just seems pointless.

Not sure if sarcasm or not


I support the idea, the private clan threads and the reports section apart from the staff complaints could be taken out from getting highlighted

No, I wasn't being sarcastic the example he gave (like the clan boards) do not have checks or anything.
Although I actually would support this due to the reports section.
Nevermind my first posts.
Although I do still think the clan boards are fine cuz there aren't any check marks etc...
But for the report board, I would definitely vote to fix it.

Implying forum software is written in such a way that simple 10-minute fixes can exist. That isn't the case.

Unfortunately, those unread notifications are there for a reason; the staff members need them. Changing it for normal users but not staff members immediately makes this quite a bit harder, and I'm reasonably sure it's not actually worth the effort. That said, if one of the devs reads this and disagrees with that, it might happen anyways.

https://i.imgur.com/yMfpGUi.gifv

try double clicking this icon, or the smaller one to mark stuff as read.
(if you own the thread, or are a staff member with powers there, this closes it)