I have no problems posting my threads in the proper places, even if the forums are visited less. After all, they are the PROPER places and I'd much rather get no or few answers doing the right thing than many doing the wrong thing (especially when some of those may be pointing out that I'm in the wrong place). Sure, I'd like answers but I'm not going to ignore forum topics for the sake of "popularity" or whatever you'd call it. And usually, I'll get at least one that'll be helpful so it's not so bad. Besides, there are tons of people like me who don't even visit individual forums (or who don't do it mainly). I pay attention to all the new threads and recently commented on ones so I see threads in every category. I know there other people like me so chances are that a thread will get at least one answer if it's not complete crap/spam/etc.

I post in the proper area when there is one, otherwise I post social. I go through the forums with the most recent and then break it down once I have seen the day's postings. Most people probably use the default, recently posted so they will see the posts and if it interests them will probably read and answer otherwise they will go to another posting that does interest them. Just my thoughts based on how I navigate the forums.

I start out by looking at the threads that were started since the last time I was on - just click next to the word "Started" on the bar directly above the first post on the forum and it'll put them in order and then I switch to "Last Update".