# Conversation mode (treeview)
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [November 12, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253 "2023-11-12T15:04:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@oles67](https://meta.discourse.org/u/oles67)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253/1 "2023-11-12T15:04:14Z")
Hello,
Is there a solution to display the forum in conversation mode like in outlook for example?
It quickly becomes complicated to follow a discussion with lots of branches like in a tree.
Some discussion threads have hundreds or even thousands of posts.
THANKS
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253/2 "2023-11-12T15:06:35Z")
No, that’s not how Discourse works.
> [@Threaded discussion is ultimately too complex to survive on the public Internet?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/threaded-discussion-is-ultimately-too-complex-to-survive-on-the-public-internet/63172/5):
>
> If you _really_ need full bore threaded, Discourse is not for you, I’d pick some other free open source tool.
> [@Threaded discussion is ultimately too complex to survive on the public Internet?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/threaded-discussion-is-ultimately-too-complex-to-survive-on-the-public-internet/63172):
>
> In 2012, Jeff’ wrote that he thought [“threaded discussion is ultimately too complex to survive on the public Internet.”](https://blog.codinghorror.com/web-discussions-flat-by-design/) Since it’s been nearly another 6 years, I was wondering if he still saw flat threads as the wave of the future, considering threaded conversations continue to be used by the largest and fastest growing social sites(Facebook, Imgur, Reddit)? Given the apparent acceptance, perhaps even preference, of threaded design by these hundreds of millions of users, would he now be willi…
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### Author:  [@oles67](https://meta.discourse.org/u/oles67)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253/3 "2023-11-12T15:35:19Z")
I’m an old guy who knew usenet in its early days and IRC ;o)
In flat mode it is unreadable and in the end, few people read when it exceeds ten messages (except the people concerned) Too bad for the others.
The conversation mode, like Usenet, allows you to have a correct view of the entire discussion with the “disgressions”
Nothing prevents you from having flat and conversation mode. Everyone makes their choice
The only argument I understand is the size of the screen on a smartphone. But here, I think that the solution exists in other types of software
I stop here. I have the answer (old-\>2012). Thank you for pointing that out to me
Sincerely
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253/4 "2023-11-12T15:44:51Z")
> [@oles67](#):
>
> In flat mode it is unreadable and in the end, few people read when it exceeds ten messages (except the people concerned) Too bad for the others.
Part of the Discourse way is to have active Moderation, to move branches into their own Topics.
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### Author:  [@Dituar](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Dituar)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/conversation-mode-treeview/285253/5 "2026-06-24T14:55:17Z")
> [@Testing Nested Replies on Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/testing-nested-replies-on-meta/398759):
>
> Hey everyone waving_hand Some very smart people on our team created a very experimental plugin to explore how a nested / threaded model view for topics would feel in Discourse. Use this topic to test the look and feel of this experiment! WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR BUG REPORTS, by definition this is a very buggy experiment. We are interested in how it integrates with our classic Topic view, and if this may be a good idea for some communities as an optional thing, either via global, category or u…