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A threaded discussion is an electronic discussion (such as one via e-mail, e-mail list, bulletin board, newsgroup, or Internet forum) in which the software aids the user by visually grouping messages. Messages are usually grouped visually in a hierarchy by topic. A set of messages grouped in this way is called a topic thread or simply "thread". A discussion forum, e-mail client or news client is said to have "threaded topics" if it groups messages on the same topic together for easy reading in this manner.

Contents 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Threading 1.1 Advantages 1.2 Disadvantages 2 Open thread 3 Examples 4 See also 5 References

Topic threading allows members of the group to communicate about common interests asynchronously, in their own time and at their own pace. An individual may post a message in the evening and another may respond the next day. Threaded discussion is a common tool in e-learning environments. Advocates of threaded discussion suggest that learners may stop and think about what their messages will be, taking into account the other messages in the discussion forum, before posting their thoughts. Such asynchronous communication permits deeper consideration of the ideas under discussion.

The advantage of hierarchically threaded views is that they allow the reader to appreciate quickly the overall structure of a conversation: specifically who is replying to whom. As such it is most useful in situation with extended conversations or debates, such as newsgroups: indeed, for really complex debate, it quickly becomes impossible to follow the argument without some sort of hierarchical threading system in place.

Another benefit is in the more subtle appreciation of community in hierarchically threaded systems. As responses have to be made to specific posts, they are also made to specific individuals. Threaded conversations therefore tend to focus the writer on the specific views and personality of the individual being responded to. This occurs less in fora where the latest comment is just inserted into the general pool.

A disadvantage of hierarchical threading over flat threading is an increased level of complication, and such a view therefore requires an increased level of comfort and sophistication on the part of its users. It is therefore not surprising that its takeup has been heaviest in some of the oldest and/or most sophisticated of online communities, such as Usenet, CIX or Slashdot. Web chat and comment systems are, by comparison, younger and open to a wider audience, and as such hierarchical threading is only recently becoming commonplace in such arenas.

Imposing a tree hierarchy also tends to fragment discussion within a topic: it no longer becomes possible to post a message responding to or summarising several different previous posts. Instead, every previous post must be responded to individually. It is arguable that this leads to a more confrontational debating style in fora that use hierarchical threading.

An open thread, which at one time was referred to as noodles, can refer to a blog post where readers may comment and discuss any topic that they choose.

Open threads are usually more useful on popular blogs with large amounts of traffic; they are often used when the author of the blog has no subject matter to post on or when there is a lull in posting.

Open threads are also used to break up the monotony of posts on the main pages of blogs. Comments may build up on content-oriented posts; therefore, authors use the open threads so page load times won't be slowed down.

• Yahoo! Groups [1], MSN Groups [2] and Slashdot [3] all offer web-based forums that feature threaded discussions
• The screenshot of Forté Agent on its page shows the hierarchical view of the thread in the thread window, with the currently selected message visible in the reading pane.

• Scholarly Skywriting
• List of blogging terms

• Dartmouth. (2003). Taking discussion online. Available: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/discussion.html
• Wolsey, T. DeVere (2004, January/February). Literature discussion in cyberspace: Young adolescents using threaded discussion groups to talk about books. Reading Online, 7(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=wolsey/index.html