There are a number of factors that contribute to this behavior. The primary one is that the advertisements have built in refresh that cause ads to reload after a period of time. The new ads may be a different size and cause the page to shift.

This can also be a function of your browser and its own reloading behavior.

As the prior poster suggests, the list of recent topics may have changed in the interim.

A could way to mitigate this issue is to open a topic that you want to read in another browser window or tab and read the thread there. Then, just close that window when you are done. This may reduce the chance that you will lose your place in the list of recent topics.

Because that topic isn’t as recent anymore when it refreshes.

When viewing/reading "Recent Topics," why after reading and going back, do I sometimes go back to where I was, and can choose to read/view the next item, and sometimes go back to a place I've already read or way further down the list, skipping many posts? It is annoying, as I then spend time scrolling trying to get back to where I was

TIA