Hello Bob,
Welcome aboard.
You may already have an account as 'Bob Unitt' with MyTimeMedia forums (e.g. Model Boats or MyHobbyStore) and as they share an underlying database it won't allow duplicate user names. If not, then it must just be a glitch.
I'm afraid this forum doesn't support 'mark as read'.
Most users set their profile to display the most recent message of each thread, rather than the first page, and also use the 'latest posts' page rather than the 'all topics' page for keeping track of what's happening.
I realise this can be tedious for occasional users but it works well for the 'regulars'.
You may also find the custom Google search box on the home page more useful than the keyword search.
Neil