Hello @lagunagrl
If you want to see the most recent posts, here is how to do it. If you look underneath the first post (in any discussion) you will see an icon that says,"Oldest to Newest," If you click on the drop-down arrow you can change it to "Newest to Oldest" That way you will have the most current posts.

Also, if there is someone you want to respond to you need to click on "Reply" and then post or use their user name (as I did in this post where I typed @lagunagrl). Always using the "@" before the name.

I hope this helps.