Look, i am so sick of these threads so i am going to spell it out for you. log out of your account and then go log back in. mark the time to stay logged in to 300000 minutes. now come back in and post and read the forum and do your newbie time. These time features are a built in part of SMF and there is no way for them to prevent the time from getting added to your total time logged in.
The bottom line is this: I did my four hours just like everybody else. quit whining like a baby and do your time.
How do I "mark the time to stay logged in to 300000 minutes"?
instead of logging in the top box, click on the login link in the main menu. it will take you to the login page, whre you will have the ability to set the lenght of your time to stay logged in.