Would it be possible to create an 'Active technical topics' item in the menu? That would be the active topics excluding the General chat subforum.
I normally check the forum through the active topics link. That list is mostly dominated by topics from the general chat with, let's say, less enlightening discussions. Especially now, later in the season when less technical innovation is shown on track.
Being a normal human being with a natural desire to click on links, I still tend to open general chat topics in the active topics list (only to get annoyed with the ping-pong discussions). An active technical topics link would clean up the list nicely and let me see only what I have come for.