Blue Topic Bar?

What does this mean?

That you started the topic. I believe this just happened like a few days ago.

It means that you started the topic.  Nothing more, nothing less.

It's basically there to confuse you, really.  I took a while to figure it out too.

It's basically there to confuse you, really.  I took a while to figure it out too.

C)P
LPC implemented it, indeed a few days ago. Just not really to confuse you, but to make it obvious at first glance which topic you started/make those findable quickly.
In the dark theme, your own topics have a grey slightly different blue colour, btw.

Indeed. The main reason is to quickly see that your topic has got attention. You browse the topiclist and if a blue bar is at the top, you know someone replied to your topic. If you read everything, you won't mind. But if you're as busy as me, you want to check a forum, see if your topic has a reply, check it out, return to the index, quickly scan for new topics and then mark everything as read

Thats what I do when I'm really busy. In the past I sometimes missed my own topics, so this little hack is really handy, not only for me, but for everyone.

It kinda looks like the forum is made of flash
.swf

Indeed. The main reason is to quickly see that your topic has got attention. You browse the topiclist and if a blue bar is at the top, you know someone replied to your topic. If you read everything, you won't mind. But if you're as busy as me, you want to check a forum, see if your topic has a reply, check it out, return to the index, quickly scan for new topics and then mark everything as read

Thats what I do when I'm really busy. In the past I sometimes missed my own topics, so this little hack is really handy, not only for me, but for everyone.

I'm using the FastRecords/WaDF theme, so I just click the Show new replies to your posts. at the top of the screen.

Me too

Indeed. The main reason is to quickly see that your topic has got attention. You browse the topiclist and if a blue bar is at the top, you know someone replied to your topic. If you read everything, you won't mind. But if you're as busy as me, you want to check a forum, see if your topic has a reply, check it out, return to the index, quickly scan for new topics and then mark everything as read

Thats what I do when I'm really busy. In the past I sometimes missed my own topics, so this little hack is really handy, not only for me, but for everyone.

Thanks ! Its handy!

As moderator, I can't just only check my own topics. I have to check everything. I give new topics more priority if I'm busy. If I'm not, I check everything.