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What’s the meaning of the “bullets” next to each thread title? Some exploding, some bronze, some grey, some smoking...
Apologies if this is a stupid question.

Scroll down there is a key at the bottom of the page.

Read/unread, and hot topics.

I’m not sure what you need to do as a thread to earn the smoking bullet, but presumably that’s where the good stuff hangs out.

Edit:
Huh.
The main forum page just has 3 listed.
Enter a sub forum (like Nuts & Bolts), you get the full list
Nothing when reading a thread.

Probably because you are not going to see locked/stickied threads from the main forum page, or anything when in a thread. But “key at the bottom” is a little mercurial.

I think a smoking bullet is a hot thread that's cooled off, right?

Smoking bullet is a "hot thread" with no new posts since you last looked at it.