What is included in the recent threads on the front page?

I find it very nice because I don't have to page thru a bunch of subforums to see which have been posted to. But...i can't tell if recent threads is showing all changes since my last visit, changes since a certain date or jsut a set number.

And I keep looking for the button at the bottom that goes back to the most recent posts prior to the ones in the list.

I guess what I'm saying is that if the recent posts only shows the last 10 posts and there is no way to get the 11-20 and 21-30 etc then it's not very usefull because it is still a pain to go find the 11th most recent post.

Hopefully that is completely confusing...

jim