> Any thread where the discussion isn't expected to splinter into subtopics But most longer running discussions will splinter into subtopics. If the discussio

> Any thread where the discussion isn't expected to splinter into subtopics But most longer running discussions will splinter into subtopics. If the discussion is short enough, the way it's displayed doesn't really matter either way. > Other examples would include threads with real-time reactions to events, like a sporting event or political debate I think the line between a mostly synchronous chat and an asynchronous discussion forum as been blurred a bit. In chat, it's a lot easier to follow a discussion as it's happening because you can read the messages as they come in and only pay attention to the ones you're interested in. But trying to read the log after the fact is a bit more time consuming because you have to search for the relevant messages amongst many. In a threaded and asynchronous discussion, it's easier to go down a subthread to follow a particular discussion than it is to find that discussion mixed in with all the other posts. That said, I find it interesting that email clients have moved towards displaying messages in a conversation view, yet newer chat clients like Slack are introducing threaded discussiion as a feature.