I gotta put in a vote for the flyovers--very, very useful. I log on, and see a whole bunch of new threads (or I'm browsing, and find a bunch of old ones) that I've never read. I just let my cursor rest on the title for a moment, and I see if the topic is something I'm interested in. If not, I leave it be, instead of constantly going in and out of different discussions. This is especially useful for threads with nebulous titles.

As far as only previewing the first post in a thread, well, if you really WANT to see the later posts, then chances are you're already interested enough in the thread to click into it right away, without hesitation. Once you're in the thread, you don't see the things, so they're not such a bother.

Now, I was annoyed a touch at first by the things popping up right in my line of sight while trying to read a thread's title, but I've found it to be a fairly easy adjustment to just give my mouse a little nudge when necessary, to keep the cursor and subsequent flyovers out of the way. Not to mention, most titles are already short enough to be read at a glance.

That's just me, though, and I wouldn't complain about their removal, if that's what most people want. I'm easy like that. :)

I vote to remove them. They're like an annoying gnat buzzing around.

Jay

Sorry to chime in so late but I've been away for a while. I will say that they are one of the reasons I left for a while (well, that and traveling). I hate them, they are constantly in the way.

So I guess the verdict is they're not a user-configurable option? I have sort of a love-hate relationship with them as well. They usually don't stay up long enough to be completely useful.

I seem to use them everytime I am going to check out a new post. Allows me to know if it is relevant to what I am searching for or if I can help answer someones' question.

But I can see other members' points about it. And if they do go, it's not going to matter too much. Just click the post and check it out. Not what you are looking for, just use the good old back button.