I've never used Mattermost, so I'm only going off my reading of what you said, but the difference is that, if you're not actually in a thread when you reply to a message on Discord, it doesn't get put into that thread, whereas on Mattermost, IIUC, you're saying that you can reply to a message outside of a thread and be able to click into a thread made of all those replies.
My question (and pcthrowaway's) response is about what happens when you send a message inside a thread without replying to a message. I was wondering if it would be sent into the main channel, with no context, which would be confusing.
It sounds like you're under the impression that threads can only be started by "replying to a message". That's true in the sense that threads are created when you hit the reply icon to a top-level message, and type a response in the section for the thread starting with that message.
Afterwards, all responses sent in the thread are part of that thread. By default, on versions of Mattermost in the last year, these are visually separated from the channel, almost like a sub-channel that you can reply in. In the web app, the thread is off to the side of the main channel.
Responses in the thread do not show up on the channel; the top-level messages which have replies in-thread say the number of messages in that thread, which you can click on to open the thread. Messages sent to the main channel go to the main channel, but in the thread view, you're not necessarily replying to any one specific message, just posting a message in the thread.
I think there are other ways to view this though, so based on user settings it may also be possible to see threaded responses in the main channel (I haven't experimented with the alternate view settings though)
Not sure if that answers your question, but you can always join the mattermost official server and try it out yourself if you're curious: https://community.mattermost.com/
> It sounds like you're under the impression that threads can only be started by "replying to a message". That's true in the sense that threads are created when you hit the reply icon to a top-level message, and type a response in the section for the thread starting with that message.
No, I'm just focusing on reply-chains and their interactions with threads because the former often leads to the latter, and I misunderstood the original comment.
This clarifies things though and is indeed exactly how Discord does it. I just wish there was a better way of handling threads - it seems to me that it's too easy for a conversation to be shoved into a thread and then be forgotten if you're not actively looking for it. That's fine in some cases, like work discussions, but not for say a social community.
I'm baffled by your suggestion that this is how discord does it, because I have used discord for a while and never seen threads (I use the web app and not the mobile app though). Am I missing something like this?
In Discord you can certainly reply to messages, but that basically just references them. Messages all appear top-level in their channels. There is no "side chat" that will contain the threaded conversations.
Again, unless I'm missing something due to using the web app and maybe having threads disabled in my settings.
Mattermost is very different in how it handles this. I haven't used Slack in a while, but IIRC it's much more similar to slack
This has grown into a longer series of misunderstandings than seems necessary. :P
Yes, Discord's behavior with regards to the initial creation of threads is not the same, if I understand you right. To create a thread, one has to explicitly click a New Thread button, OR Discord will prompt you after 2-3 replies in a row to create a thread for that message chain. After that, the thread will show up under the top-level channel, and you can open it up in a sidebar. *
What I meant when I said this is how Discord does it was with regards to how messages are shared - or not, as it is - between the top-level channel and the thread. As I said, I misunderstood earlier comments regarding how this works on other platforms. I really ought to just download Mattermost and check it out :P
* If you're not just talking about specific thread behavior, and indeed have never seen threads at all, you're not alone. They're not very commonly used on Discord, probably because it's not easy to discover them. They're also a relatively new feature.
I believe Discord servers can disable "threads", which maybe what you've seen.
If you right click on a message you can choose "create thread" and it will do this thing (which I personally hate). You can do this on the official Python server for example.
> By default, on versions of Mattermost in the last year, these are visually separated from the channel, almost like a sub-channel that you can reply in. In the web app, the thread is off to the side of the main channel.
Oh dear. It sounds like they made it like slack/discord which I hate.
