Jeff and .NET

I prefer threaded forums to flat ones.

When a group of humans discuss something, we have an uncanny ability to decipher to whom and to what we are responding. In a text environment, we don't have the same non-verbal cues that allow us to maintain context.

If you respond to something other than the first or last item, then you need some way to know to which you are replying. Most system that are linear feature a "quote" button.

With threads, if we both post a reply to the same item, you will see that each is a reply to the same thing. If you post a reply and I post a reply to your reply, they are clearly not replies to the same thing.

The aspect of "working the room" depends on how you present the tree of responses.

For simple discussions, you don't need the threads, but when there is lots of back and forth, it helps.

Though I personally like Usenet threaded style, I've gotten used to the linear format. The threaded style can become quite difficult to read when you have a deeply nested hierarchy. Linear posting with quotes solves all these problems, just as long as people use the quoted replies properly.

My upcoming AtlasForums will be linear, but I am storing  what message people reply to, so the threaded hierarchy does not get lost.

What happens if there are several different... facets being discussed in a single thread?  If I want to discuss three of them, do I need to post in three different places (threaded), or one (linear)?  What happens when the discussion isn't strictly hierarchical (e.g. the discussion splits into two parts, then returns to one)?  I'm not convinced either version works well, unless extra data is stored that links posts to each other somehow.  Either one has been made to work, but might there be a third option that works even better, especially when post lengths get long?