Threading

Threading is the idea that comments that reply to another comment should be placed indented under that comment, rather than at the end of the thread.

Threading is used by such sites as Google Wave (I have invites), znet, slashdot, and stuffwhitepeoplelike.

The reasons for threading are:

Better organization - it's easier to follow conversations and discussions when it's clearly indented under another post.

Ability to jump into a conversation for a late comer - For a personal example, I was involved in a thread where there was debate over RinxShirou vs SakuraxShirou. By the time I arrived at the thread, the RinxShirou portion of the discussion was over, and people were debating on SaberxShirou. In a linear/flat system, arguing against SakuraxShirou would be strange, as nobody seems to care anymore. But in a hierarchical/nested/threaded system, I can reply directly to the older comments and restart the conversation from where it left off, without interrupting the current conversation about SaberxShirou.

Ability to dismiss tangents - When people go on tangents in threads, as they frequently do, the tangents are nested under the higher level comments. People who cares about the tangential conversation can easily follow through the nesting system. On the other hand, people who do not care, and is only concerned with the original topic can easily see which comments fall under that tangent and ignore it. It also helps that these side conversations are hidden initially under the 'show' button. In a flat system, you would have to scroll down through all the comments, reading each one, to figure out which ones are tangential.

For people who want a flat system instead of the threaded system, please post here your reasons. We'll probably do a poll sometime later after everyone had a chance to make their arguments.

The threaded system is the default for now.

If people like the threaded system but want to see a slightly different implementation, or make some design suggestions, please make a new feedback post. This feedback post is for pros and cons of the threaded system.

Thanks.