[BruceZ]

[ QUOTE ]

when the vast majority of OOT users post and view in flat mode, many using quick reply, trying to follow coherent subthreads doesn't make much sense...using threaded really only makes sense if most other people are using the forum that way.


[/ QUOTE ]

Users can respond to a particular post whether they use flat mode or threaded mode. As long as some users do this, then using threaded mode will provide an advantage for following those sub-threads that you lose in flat mode, and for the rest using quick reply, it doesn't matter what mode you use to view their posts because the order is unimportant. I follow sub-threads all the time. Not everyone uses quick reply, especially not on other forums.

Quick-reply is a very new feature here, and one that I feel has had an overall negative impact on forums outside OOT. It encourages people to respond before they have read the rest of the thread, and frequently I see people giving incorrect, half-baked answers to questions that have already been analyzed correctly and completely elsewhere in the same thread. Quick reply and flat mode are mainly good for catering to laziness and encouraging hasty, poorly thought out responses. Threaded mode may require a little more effort and a few extra mouse-clicks, but it provides an organized discussion and promotes more structured thinking. It is completely understandable why this would be undesirable for the majority of OOT users.