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"Flat" and "Threaded" refers to how the messages appear when you click on a thread topic to read it.

"Flat" means that all the messages are displayed, from top to bottom, so you can scroll down and read them all.

"Threaded" means that only one message appears at a time. Underneath the message there is a "tree" that represents each message in the thread and who wrote it. By clicking on that tree you pull up each of the messages.

One advantage to "threaded" mode is it gives you more detail about who responded to what message (assuming people click on the correct "reply to" when they compose their message.)

For example, say in a long thread I have 4 messages during the course of the thread. Then say "KrzyKris" replies to one of my messages. You read his reply but don't understand it because you can't remember what I said that prompted it. In "Flat" mode, looking at KrzyKris's message you can see that it is a reply to me. But you don't know which one of my 4 messages it is a reply to, so you have to read them all and figure out which message prompted him to respond. In "Threaded" mode, his response is attached to the actual post he replied to by a line. You can easily click on that and read my original post.

The easiest way to see this is if you are in a thread (like this one!) reading the messages. At the top right you should see "Flat" and "Threaded" click on one or the other to change modes and you'll see the difference and what I mean by the "tree" when you are in threaded mode.

I presume you are looking at the "flat" and "threaded" choices in your preferences. That just sets the default for how threads open. If you prefer to see the posts in Threaded mode you can change the preference and then you won't have to open the thread and click "Threaded" each time. Of course you can always click to go back and forth while you are reading the thread too.

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OK I just looked and the "Threaded" mode doesn't actually have connecting lines like some forums do... it just shows a list of the messages and the indenting shows who responded to what. It may help understand (or it may confuse you more) to realize that the tree on the bottom is NOT in chronological order, there wouldn't be much point in that because you already get that in "Flat" mode. If you notice (considering how it stands at the time I am writing this) that there is a post from me way near the bottom. but that is not my newest post, it is an older post that followed the "main" chain of messages as this thread grew.

the last message you posted was not only a reply to yourself, it was a reply to your original post that started this topic, so it appears at the top right under your original post. Both myself and heatherm responded to that recent message of yours, so both of our posts appear directly under. This post (the one you are reading now) is actually the forth line from the top right now: 1 is your original post, 2 is the reply to your original post that you entered today, 3 is heatherms reply to that post, and 4 is my reply to your post. Heatherm and I are indented the same amount because they are both responses to the same message.

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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