TDPL a bad idea?

[Roman Ivanov]

On 2/6/2010 10:33 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> Roman Ivanov wrote:
>> In a tree-like forum, a discussion can be extended at any point, and the
>> bigger the thread grows, the more points there are. It's more difficult
>> to keep track of, and it's /much/ more difficult to see the "current"
>> state of an entire discussion that you haven't read from the start. You
>> can't just read the last 10-20 messages, because they could be from
>> entirely different, unrelated branches. Linear threads insure that users
>> are on the same page of a topic, both figuratively and literally.
> 
> With a competent newsreader, this is no trouble at all. Read message
> subjects are greyed, so there's no problem seeing the current state.

Still, every time two or more people decide to answer to the same
message, they inadvertently create new thread branches. To read new
replies (which are usually all over the place) you need to keep
switching contexts. I'd say the only reason it's manageable is because
of massive embedded quotes.

With a linear thread, you can respond to several posts with just one
message. Even better, you can respond to an entire thread without using
quotations at all, so it is possible to have something akin to a
real-life conversation with several people.