Yep - the light grey is read - black is unread.
Ah derp. TYVM 
It also gets a little pink number on it with the number new since the last time you read it (if you have read the thread).
Ah it was the “(if you have read the thread)” that was throwing me. I was wondering why some threads got it and others didn’t
It’s pretty much everything that appears in the updates tab from what I have seen so far. There’s some settings in your user preferences to manage which threads you ‘follow’. But I think it defaults to ‘read’, or ‘contributed to’ threads.
Next little thing; the message bubble is insisting I have one unread message (there’s a “1” in a little green bubble to the top right of the message icon), but if I click on it, it gives me a message I have read already. I’ve looked in the Great Big List Of Messages™, and there are lots that I haven’t read (on this platform) but the number only says “1” not “25”, so I don’t think it’s counting those. Help?
Edit: Now that there’s been another message posted on that thread, the notification has gone (even though I had the last message in the thread, it thought I hadn’t seen the latest message. Weird)
That is weird. I wonder if its due to someone editing a post?
Okay, so this is most likely the wrong place to post this, but I’ve tried writing a new topic, and messaging @Adrexia directly, but neither worked. When I try to write a new topic, it tells me I’m not allowed to view that resource, and it just straight up tells me I can’t message Adrexia…
So yea, I’m wondering, why is this? I’d really like to be able to post topics and stuff =P. (I tried to post something on the Community forum, a fun little adventure game for people to participate in.
Edit: Oh! Finally something that worked =D.)
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Its because you are (were?) still a new user. To prevent insta-account spammers, Discourse requires users to show a minimal interest in the community (by reading some posts) before upgrading them to “basic user” and letting them PM people or create new topics.
(Though according to your user summary and the public stats, you’ve now met those requirements, so you should be getting that “basic user” badge RSN)
Yep what @IdiotSavant says. You have to look around enough, and read enough topics (while logged in) and you get granted the permission level you need to post. New topics are a slightly higher bar than replying to existing topics, as thats usually how spam bots work. Let me know if you have any further issues.
Oh, and congrats on reading the guidelines! That’s probably a rare badge you have there. 
I think I got that one trying to figure out where to find the Create Topic button =P. (I tend to try and solve problems on my own before asking for help)
Anyway, would it be an idea to actually have it stated somewhere obvious that what you guys just explained is a thing? =P.
Also, while I’m asking questions, is there some easier way to create a topic, rather than scrolling all the way down and clicking the “Why not make one?” button?
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Well, its now explained here. 
I think it takes into account total reading time. Apparently 11minutes isn’t quite enough to be trusted to start a topic (but is enough to reply to posts - a more common activity for new users). The auto generated (highly personalised ), welcome post mentions restricted rights, links to this: https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-user-trust-levels-do/4924 and has a note at the bottom that if you need to contact staff you can reply to that post.
There’s “+ New topic” button at the top of the listings pages.
[quote=“KamicaAnera, post:37, topic:21214”]
Also, while I’m asking questions, is there some easier way to create a topic, rather than scrolling all the way down and clicking the “Why not make one?” button?[/quote]
Top left corner, under the hamburger menu.
Right corner, unless you are the computer…
Also, you can press “c” from anywhere and get it. Checkout the keyboard shortcuts in the hamburger menu,
This is why I’m not allowed to give directions to people who are driving.
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[quote=“Adrexia, post:38, topic:21214, full:true”]
…11minutes isn’t quite enough to be trusted to start a topic (but is enough to reply to posts - a more common activity for new users).[/quote]
I highly doubt that! The vast majority of time I’ve created a user account on some random forum, it’s to ask a question that isn’t answered elsewhere on the forums, not to comment on a thread that already exists.
My 2c, etc etc
Want to see analytics?
It does depend on the nature of the forum1. The main function of this forum isn’t support, for instance. We have the huge welcome thread, and many jump into campaign based discussion threads. Some do start threads straight away. And they can do that, once they spend 10 minutes reading posts, and read more than 30 posts, etc etc. As a sidenote this:
…implies that you’ve spent time reading the forum, would mean that you’d have enough street cred to post topics. I think it even carries over when you create the account, from the time you spent before that but maybe not all of it.
1 And the person - your first post, for instance, may have been a new thread2. My first new thread was several years after joining
2 It wasn’t, but it could have been
[quote=“Adrexia, post:43, topic:21214, full:true”]
…implies that you’ve spent time reading the forum, would mean that you’d have enough street cred to post topics.[/quote]
Yes, but more often than not, not as a registered user. Again the vast majority of the time when I create the account is immediately before I post my first post (and yes, that has caused issues on some sites)
That may be the not-usual case, I suppose, but I’m not going to register for a forum unless and until I have something to say on it. I don’t create an account just to browse, unless I have to (i.e. you can’t even read the forum without an account, and in those cases I typically don’t bother)
Yeah, that’s probably fairly typical. But your first post here, like mine, was on an existing thread. We don’t get many new users creating a new topic as their very first action. There are a few outliers (eg the people who join because they are running an event and want to advertise it here, or researchers, etc).
I know discourse does track how long an unregistered user spends reading, as it attempts to up sell users to create an account after a few topics. I haven’t tested what that means for a new account.