> That's funny. I have that same basic
>habit/need. I have to go back to a base before
>surfing somewhere else -- I guess becaues the
>page stack is always in the back of my head
>somewhere, and branching out to all kinds of
>different places on the same stack is too
>confusing. I will often branch out on purpose if
>I want to save a reference to some page on the
>stack, but only then.

I think I'm even more compulsive than that. If I follow a link to someone's site that I find somehwere or is given to me in email that is in the form of "http://domain/extra/stuff" I'll check out that page, but I'll *always* chop the extra/stuff off later when I'm done and see where I get. I just have this need to see the "start" page, even if one doesn't exist (and you be surprised how many "http://domain" type addresses give you errors.)

> But stranger still, something I've NEVER
>understood, not now, not when I started mucking
>around on the web before it was a mainstream
>thing: why on earth would people want "back to"
>links on subpages of sites that point back at the
>main page? If you were at the main page, then go
>to a subpage, then follow the *link* back to the
>main page, you've just mucked up the page stack
>senselessly, making it harder and messier to
>return anywhere *else* you've gone to using ANY
>of the browser features that let you do so.

I've always just assumed that these people have no idea what the "back" button really does, and/or they're afraid to click on it for some reason.

The thing I don't get is the "forward" button. I think I've used it four times in my whole life. If I want to go "forward" I just re-click the link that got me there in the first place.