You may want to explain why you feel that clicking on the "threads" link in the menubar is insufficient. If you're logged in, it will take you to
new | threads (12) | comments | show | ask | jobs | submit
I'll leave it to the implementer to decide whether the count gets reset every time I click on threads, or not.I think what the other person suggested "threads (12)" might make it sufficient. If there was a growing number next to "threads" I would have clicked it years ago.