Which Thread Display Mode does it for you?

[BeastOfBodmin]

To try not to draw too much vitriol from the admins, I'd like to say first of all that I do like vBulletin. On the whole I think I prefer it to phpBB, which it certainly seems to have some similarities with in terms of presentation.

Linear - Oldest first
Ok for threads with only a few posts. But if message #187 is a reply to message #45 it's a bugger. Continuity suffers.

Linear - Newest first
Been trying that one out over the last few days but reading a thread backwards is only useful if you've been following a thread and there's an occasional post. No use for "discovering" a thread that has a lot of posts already. I'm an old time usenet user and so I hate top posting, which this mode is reminiscent of.

Threaded
I expected this mode to be the dogs nads, and it's the best one, but there are a couple of annoyances. IMO it would be cool if the height of the frame with the threads in it were user configurable. Also, the message "More replies below current depth..." or something is nice to know, but I sort of would expect to be able to _see_ these if I click that link. I know this is configurable by setting "Default Thread Age Cut Off", but it doesn't "enhance the user experience" much if you have to go in and out of your personal settings.

Hybrid
Not quite sure what's going on there. But I don't like it.

[mark]

Sorry to spoil the fun of your poll, but I had a look directly in the database.

1 user uses oldest first, and 3 users (including you) use threaded mode.

All the rest use the default mode and have probably never even considered changing it

I myself use the default mode, simply because I got used to it. I also considered that in order for threaded mode to work correctly people would have to reply directly to the post they intended to answer, rather than just clicking the big reply button at the bottom. Still, if quoting is used (which it often is) then the threaded mode would work correctly.

[DaveA]

I tried using the threaded mode, and I found it pretty difficult to follow. IMO the whole of the forum pages are cluttered and I have little enthusiasm for bells and whistles. Google Groups through the browser is the best interface I've seen in terms of presentation.

As the number of new posts increases, it becomes more difficult to view them without scolling for miles down the page.

Top posting is great. Its the future, alongside garlic-bread.

dave

	Quote:	BeastOfBodmin
	I expected this mode to be the dogs nads, and it's the best one, but there are a couple of annoyances. IMO it would be cool if the height of the frame with the threads in it were user configurable. Also, the message "More replies below current depth..." or something is nice to know, but I sort of would expect to be able to _see_ these if I click that link. I know this is configurable by setting "Default Thread Age Cut Off", but it doesn't "enhance the user experience" much if you have to go in and out of your personal settings. Hybrid Not quite sure what's going on there. But I don't like it.