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Comment by godelski | Hacker News Reader

I just played around with Riot for the first time. Can you directly reply to a comment in a chat room like you can in Slack (like the sub chat thing, I'm not sure what to call it)? I actually find this an extremely useful feature that allows rooms to to be uncluttered with side conversations (which as room sizes grow, this becomes a HUGE benefit). I may be missing this or I can't do it in a room of only me?

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We have 'replies' (which lets you post a message into the main timeline which refers to an existing message in the timeline), but we don't yet have 'threads' (which lets you branch the conversation into a sidebar).

The protocol actually has support for label-based threading (i.e. "hide all messages tagged #gif" or "only show messages/conversations in this room tagged #work") already, as per https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/matthew/msc232.... But we haven't had a chance to hook this up into Riot yet, thanks to all the work spent on E2EE by default.

Proper threads will come in time however.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, threads. That's what I'm thinking of. I find these super useful. I know some people don't like them, but they can just not use them if that's their preferred style. I would really just like threading a comment rather than having to label everything. I'll be honest, I'll just get lazy and not label. I doubt I'm the only one too, or in the minority.

> Proper threads will come in time however.

Awesome, this was really the only thing that makes me hesitant to switch. I can stand an ugly UI if I can get good conversational flow.

Hot take: slack-style threads are bad for long-form discussion. They encourage forking, when what you really want is everyone to be on the same page. Traditional forum-style threads, or "channels" on a chat app, is optimal for discourse, as it encourages continuous convergence and integration rather than splintering. Hiding tangents serves to lower the quality of conversation.

Optimal within the constraints of real time chat IMHO is slow-mode (5 to 15 seconds, or possibly greater) in a single channel.

IME tangents, while possibly fruitful, just lead people to skip the 30+ messages and so doesn't become helpful.

Hot take: make threading an option. If you don't want them, don't use them. If you want them, then they are available. This is clearly a personal difference with no right or wrong answer. So the solution is options.

I find Zulips threading/topics UI brilliant for certain kinds of channels and discussions.

I hope that Riot will implement something similar, potentially as an individual or per-channel setting.

No, it looks like threads aren't (yet) supported in either Riot or the Matrix spec.

https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/2329

https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/2349

I believe those are threads and while I have no opinion on the subject because I don't really use slack anymore, I remember them being pretty controversial here.

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