What is better? Threaded or Flat Discussions?

[Safire]

 

Which one do you use for your network and why?

 

I'm trying to decide... So far I've been using Threaded...

Flat vs. threaded

• A flat forum is one where each message is added onto the end of the discussion, with no set relation to any prior messages (other than being on the same discussion topic — except in case of Off-Topic posting). But, there is normally a feature to 'quote' another user's post, to allow referencing back to other posts.
• A threaded forum is one where users can specify their message is a reply to an existing message. Threaded forums can display relationships between message topics and associated replies, such as by indenting replies and placing them below the post they reference. Threaded forums are most commonly used for discussions where individual messages tend to be short,

[the_real_macfly]

after a certain number of replies you cant reply to the post u want to reply to

Indeed.  That deserves to be fixed.  Infinite threading does not work, so collapsing to flat after a certain depth seems to be the right answer.

[alexandra pickett]

threaded please.

 

if it has to be flat, allowing an option for reverse chronological order on replies would be swell.

[Nicolette James]

I just posted a comment on this is an older forum where I was looking for information on how to change this. I don't even think it matters as much if it is threaded or flat, but what does matter is the order. It should be in reverse order by the most recent! It is so annoying and frustrating to have to start a the beginning of a discussion when you are waaayyy past that. It's ridiculous. Everyone on my network complains about it and I've tried to change it, but apparently we can't. I don't understand why this is not an option when so many awesome changes are being made. I would imagine it would be a simple thing to do. Can we PLEASE have the option of switching this. It is my biggest pet peeve with Ning.
Am I the only one who feels this way?

[soaringeagle]

umm thre is a go to last reply link u dont gotta read every post if u just go to the last post and it only makes sence that way if y do want to read every post wouldnt it be annoying as hell to have to read it backwards?

 

[Debby Bruck]

Seems like you just click the last numbered page in the discussion to view the last comments. Although, with threaded you do jump to any of the pages.

[James Simmons]

Would love to see a threaded option for pages and groups!

[Bree]

Flat - I get utterly confused here on creators particularly on long fast moving discussions,I find myself rereading the same messages endlessly as I just can't find the latest post in the discussion with threaded. I encourage my members to use quote if they want to reply to a specific post.

I would love a proper "view last unread" option in discussions

[Steve Hanner]

We used to do flat and then switched over to threaded and our members were overheard saying "how did we do it before?'

Threaded is just huge for us. Our "competition" is almost all forum based and their discussions lack the quickness and responsiveness and the accuracy we can achieve with threaded. In fact our discussions go deeper, last longer and more thoroughly provide insight into a significant level of detail. Thank you ning for the choice, but give me threaded anytime!

[Atheist Universe]

We use threaded - and have customized it to show the level (1-9) of the reply.

It helps when sub-replies are a the top of a new page.

[Writer Chick {Diane}]

How did you do that??  Want to share the code?

[Atheist Universe]

It took me a while to find the name of the widget in question and how it was formated. Then I was able to ask the right question and Chris provided me with a solution:

 

To change the theme's thread.gif for all indents add this line at the end of your CSS:

 

.i1,.i2,.i3,.i4,.i5,.i6,.i7,.i8,.i9{background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important;}

 

Then I just modified it to change the thread image for each indent:

 

.i1{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 1 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important;
}

.i2{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 2 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i3{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 3 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i4{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 4 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i5{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 5 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i6{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 6 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i7{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 7 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i8{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 8 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

.i9{ background:url(YOUR 20x30 PIXELS IMAGE 9 URL HERE) no-repeat 2px 10px !important; }

 

I used a 20 x 30 PNG basic image with a clear background:

to which I added numbers and made nine separate thread indent images.

 

 

[Hugh]

Thank you. I'm trying this on my site. Let's see what the members think.