Threading in web forums

[bramcohen]

Threading in web forums isn't hard to get right, but it continues to be done right approximately nowhere. In the interests of helping to improve the situation, I will now explain the right way to do things

Comments

[fallenpegasus]

All I want is them to properly implement NNTP and/or IMAP, and I can stop using these stupid Web UIs, and use a proper message reader.

[bramcohen]

Dude, you are so stuck in the 90's. Don't you know that everything is done over the web these days?

[niralisse]

the somethingawful forums get most of this right except for indenting. They got the last-read concept perfect.

[bramcohen]

somethingawful: a paragon of good taste in web design

[david3x3x3]

My pet peeve about forums is that most of the ones that I have to use don't even track which messages I have already read. They just keep a time stamp of my last visit, and show any new messages since my last visit in bold. So, if I don't read every message every time I visit the site, the next time I visit, there will be lots of unread messages that are mixed in with my read messages. This is a step backwards from e-mail, usenet, dial-up bulletin boards, etc.

[uke]

But it works well in situations where you actively choose not to read every message just because it's new. That style works well for me.