I'm talking about clicking on the little envelop vs clicking your own username next to it. After using stackoverflow almost daily for 9 months now, I still locate certain pages by trial and error.
Example scenario: I want to see if recent comments I made had responses in the form of comments or edits. So I typically click the envelope (RECENT comment right?), then click a few tabs (summary/responses/revisions) and spend a few seconds staring at each one, give up, click my username, ah! ACTIVITY is what I want.
This process takes time, and its not unusual for me to forget what I was looking for because I'm distracted by all the other interesting things that I see on the way to the activity tab.
Similar problem: I can't remember which of the "reputation" tabs I can find behind the envelope, and which one behind the username link.
Is there any logic to the madness that can help me remember?
edit: I'll attempt to clarify. I click the envelope if I want to see "recent stuff". I click my username if I want to see "more stuff I couldn't find under 'recent stuff'", such as the activity tab. Help me form a better mental map of stackoverflow.