My default is Subscribed | New comments.
Hot and Active are too slow. New Comments lets even old posts rise to the top showing that new comments are being made and can be interacted with.
Then I switch to Subscribed | New to jump on new posts if I want to, and then finish up with All | New Comments and dive into the action lol.
What’s your strategy?
I agree that Hot and Active don’t seem to give enough weight to time. The same handful of threads have been on the front page of both for me for a couple days. I’m probably going to stick with New for now.