Today I have merged these changes https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/12976 which will allow all users to selectively dismiss New and Unread topics using the bulk topic selection functionality.
Previously, bulk topic selection was limited to only staff users. Now, on the /new and /unread topic filters, all users can bulk select topics using the checkboxes.
Any selected topics will now be passed as context to the Dismiss Unread modal, and the Dismiss New button, so you don’t have to dismiss all of your unread or new topics at once! Additionally, the top Dismiss button will now show if the bottom Dismiss button is out of the visible part of the screen, when previously it would only show when X amount of the topics were on the page.
Unread
New
For users who are not familiar with bulk selection, you can access it on the /new and /unread filters by clicking this button at the top of the topic list:
