Quite often, when I create a post, like this one, I forget to subscribe to/or watch it. Is there a way to make it so that happens automatically?

No, not at this time.

Couldn't you click on the blue link at either the top or bottom right "Watch This Topic".  Then within your privacy settings about emails, do not click in the one dealing with updates to watched topics.  You will then receive an email whenever someone responds within the thread.  To easily find your particular subject, when you enter the discussion area, click on Watched Topics and your specific one will be there.

If I'm having trouble finding a thread I started or a post I made, I go to my public profile page and click on 'Forum Posts'. It comes up with a list of all the posts you've ever made to the PBS forum. That could be handy to find posts you haven't Watched.

Erin,

Wow!  I didn't know that.  I can't tell you how much time I have spent trying to remember where I posted a response, as I do not want to have all the forums I participated in sending me notices. 

One of the things that really impresses me about this site is all the programming that went into it to allow all these functions to work.  I've been working with computers since the mid-70s, and I am long past the stage where I read the documentation.  I only read such when I am desperately lost or I need to learn how to do something that is not obvious.

Tom

Glad I could help you out with that, Thomas! Yeah, the fact that PBS remembers and keeps all my forum posts in one place was a God-send for me as well when I discovered it :)