Multiple Inboxes in Gmail

I subscribe to several email lists in my general areas of interest (communication, internet research, information science, etc.). I want to pay attention to these lists but I don’t have to read every message. I set up filters in Gmail to archive and label messages from these lists so I could check in as needed by clicking on the label, but I never actually viewed the lists and I lost track of them completely. Then I noticed the Multiple Inboxes feature (under Settings>Labs). Although the concept of multiple inboxes didn’t initially appeal to me I thought I’d try it. Although it did seem a little cluttered at first, I’ve found it very useful. My extra inbox shows me the 9 most recent unread messages from lists and other mail I archive (set to search is:unread !in:inbox). This lets me keep on top of what people are discussing on all of my lists without feeling overwhelmed.