# Prevent Reply to Post showing as a Reply to topic?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/prevent-reply-to-post-showing-as-a-reply-to-topic/261352>\
**Category:** UX\
**Created:** [April 11, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/prevent-reply-to-post-showing-as-a-reply-to-topic/261352 "2023-04-11T17:37:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/prevent-reply-to-post-showing-as-a-reply-to-topic/261352/4 "2023-04-12T16:19:55Z")

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It’s a commonly used way to show branching replies, but it comes with its own downsides. Some of the thought behind Discourse sticking to a flat discussion structure is covered here:

> **[Web Discussions: Flat by Design](https://blog.codinghorror.com/web-discussions-flat-by-design/)**
>
> It’s been six years since I wrote Discussions: Flat or Threaded? and, despite a bunch of evolution on the web since then, my opinion on this has not fundamentally changed.
> 
> If anything, my opinion has strengthened based on the observed data: precious...

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