Reading Settings for Summary Posts

I’m trying to avoid the “Next Page” link at the bottom of a page of posts (I’ve have yet to understand how to go to avoid a “404 Not Found” error).
So….I’ve set the maximum number of posts to a number larger than I have written. I know this is not the best way but it’s the only thing I’ve been able to come up with.

This works fine if the post page lists complete posts but if I use the “Read More” split, I still get the non-working “Next Page” link at the bottom.

Does ANYBODY know how to set my permalinks or do WHATEVER to make the “Next Page” work?

As a side issue, as a forum post gets older I have trouble going back here and keeping up with it. Is there an easy way to get back to something I’ve posted to see if anyone has responded?

Thanks.