I would like to be able to specify the order of these sections in my User Settings.

Well, you might say, Why don't you just click the "I've read these" button? So I'll tell you. I don't like that button. We get so many posts that inevitably when I click that button there is some post that I have not read. Worse, once I click that button, subsequent visits to the Newest Nodes page go back to the last time I clicked the button, which makes sense in the short term, but if I don't visit for a couple days... that thing becomes a mess. So perhaps a timeout feature should be added... show me nodes after the time I clicked 'read these' for 24 hours, and then revert to the normal mode.

So my main point is that I would like more control over the layout of Newest Nodes. Another idea in addition to the two I've already stated would be to add a form button next to each section header (the smaller and less obtrusive the better) that I could click saying that I've read the posts in that node... which would, rather then hiding the posts, move that section down in the display order until a new post has been added to it, which would then cause it to revert to its old position. That would be cool.

Of course, these are just ideas. I'm throwing them out there for you to discuss. As always, the powers that be have final say in all this...