Question on Threaded Mode

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

I have a question about using Threaded Mode.

When I click on Threaded Mode, I get the first message opened for view followed by a list of the message in the thread in indented form.

I then have to click on each individual message to open it. This seems rather tedious. Click to open it to read, then click next one to open and read it. Very time consuming and breaks up the flow of just reading the messages in a natural flow.

Is there any way to have all the messages open in threaded mode so that I can just scroll up and down through the messages? This would make reading them a whole lot easier and faster.

Am I missing a setting somewhere?

Thanks,

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[walter b]

Your description is correct. Let's call it progress. ;)

Quote:Very time consuming and breaks up the flow of just reading the messages in a natural flow.

There are many threads in real life where the "natural flow" turns out to split in various flows. That was easily seen and read in the old forum but requires more work now. Progress again.

d:-/

[Katie Wasserman]

(04-26-2015 01:13 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  Is there any way to have all the messages open in threaded mode so that I can just scroll up and down through the messages? This would make reading them a whole lot easier and faster.

Am I missing a setting somewhere?

You're not missing something. Threaded mode on MYBB is pretty useless and it's a common complaint on the MyBB discussion forums. It appears that the developers don't want to support this as it generates too many questions/problems as far as how deep display, how to deal with wasted screen space, etc..

I don't blame them. On the old forum we'd occasionally see some very deep and almost unreadable threads due to indentation.

[Dave Hicks]

I get the impression that the threaded mode doesn't get much attention or use. I see no talk of changing it in upcoming versions.

When I selected the software, linear mode was a "must have" since linear forums have seemed to dominate for at least 10 to 12 years. The fact that this one had a threaded mode was a small plus. However, after I tried it, it became an even smaller plus. I have at times thought of removing it for simplicity.

[walter b]

(04-26-2015 02:22 PM)Katie Wasserman Wrote:  On the old forum we'd occasionally see some very deep and almost unreadable threads due to indentation.

So something happening sometimes was cured by a more frequent annoyance? Sounds like progress ...

BTW, linear mode is unable to reflect how people communicate here usually. Though this was mentioned more than once.

d:-I

[Marcus von Cube]

(04-26-2015 03:40 PM)walter b Wrote:  BTW, linear mode is unable to reflect how people communicate here usually. Though this was mentioned more than once.

This can be accomplished by quoting the part of the message you're replying to. This helps in both linear and threaded mode.

[walter b]

It's inevitably necessary in linear mode unless responding to the very latest post. OTOH, it can be skipped in threaded mode unless you want to focus on something.

And it requires forum visitors mentally keeping subthreads separate (while an admin just proved he can't even keep threads mentally separate). As Katie confirmed above, it's a feature many users complain about - so let's see how long MyBB will get along denying the problem. So far, it seems that we traded known shortcomings on the old forum for then unknown shortcomings of the new one.

Everything shall be made as simple as possible but not simpler.

d:-(

Edited to add paragraph 2.

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(04-26-2015 01:41 PM)walter b Wrote:  There are many threads in real life where the "natural flow" turns out to split in various flows.
d

Hi Walter,

When I originally wrote "natural flow", I thought you might have a comment on it. I should have written "natural flow to the way I read" instead of implying that there was a single "natural flow" that would apply to everyone.

I will attempt to write more precisely in future forum posts. Although I most likely will not always be successful in this endeavor.


Bill
Smithville, NJ

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(04-26-2015 02:22 PM)Katie Wasserman Wrote:  You're not missing something. Threaded mode on MYBB is pretty useless and it's a common complaint on the MyBB discussion forums.

Thanks Katie - that was what I had thought.

I was trying the threaded mode out since there had been some discussion about it and thought I might be missing out on a mode that would prove useful to me. At present, I'll stick with the Linear Mode since it suits me best.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[walter b]

No problem - I appreciate you're not taking offence when being read as written. And some more precision may be beneficial for all of us when talking about logic, math, and calculators.

d:-)

[walter b]

In a way, missing structure in linear mode must be compensated by additional text required.

d:-(

[walter b]

Looking at this thread as is, I wonder how you get it analyzed in linear mode.

d:-?

<<<MODERATOR'S NOTE: Congratulations Walter, on surpassing the 1800 post level. Today's additions, like so many of your others, are just Chock Full of content and spot on the subjects of math, calculators, RPN and programming. END NOTE>>>