Hey LTP...
There isn't that much to tell about navigating LTG... Each topic, or "thread," is just stream of responses to the original post... arranged chronologically (in your user control panel, you can choose whether to haver them displayed first>last or last>first).
There is a means to "subscribe" to particular threads... which will then notify you (by e-mail, I think) when there is a new post in that thread. I haven't really played with this... too much e-mail already. So, I don't know how it really works...
If you want to start a new thread, say to ask a question about a certain model, you simply click the "new topic" button at the top of the "View forum" page (not the "Board index," but one of the forums, like "Acoustic/Acoustic electric"). Give your topic a title (informative titles, like "Questions about D-30," make it easier for board readers).
I don't know about a "bell" to the left of the topics... I think it is 'sposed to be a piece of paper... like a note? Anyway... there is a legend/key at the bottom of the forum page for the symbols... "New posts..." "New posts (popular)..." "No new posts..." etc. I think a black dot next to it means that you have posted in that thread.
Also in your user control... you can set LTG to notify you if you have a PM coming in, either by sending an e-mail and/or a pop-up when you log-in (but the latter doesn't seem to be working for me since the last crash a month ago). I tend to use PM's sparinglly... for questions or comments that I think are off topic or may not interest others, or occasionally for private communication (for example, ordering T-shirts. strings, etc from Don... our fearless leader).
Another useful point of information... the search function doesn't recognize "-" (hypens) in model names. So, if you want to search for info on a D-30, your search string should be "D30"... I don't know how far back the archive goes... I think some of it might have been lost during one of the crashes a year or so ago, because some of my original posts from '06 no longer show up.
Lastly... enjoy the forum. It's a good, congenial, group of folk, many of whom have vast knowledge about Guilds, guitars, and music in general.
Dave