Site announcements and information discussion

Is there a feature in the forum software that allows members to silence specific discussions? I rely on “New Posts” almost daily to stay updated. However, I have certain threads I never wish to open (the 3 word story and Word game are good examples — they aren’t my thing, yet new content appears constantly; there’s also occasionally a topic where, while I don’t mind it since I’m easygoing, I still prefer not to read). It would be helpful if I could designate these threads as “muted” so they disappear from the New Posts view (though presumably I can always find them in the full thread list if I decide to look). A second possibility is a button beside each thread entry for marking it as read. This isn’t quite as seamless — you have to click it every time the thread appears in New Posts rather than just once, but at least I wouldn’t need to open the discussion and wait for the page reload before heading back. This is merely a minor improvement, and considering all the unpaid effort L-u-c-y and the other admins put in for us, I fully grasp if adding this feature isn’t practical (or even doable).