Making it easier to decode who's replying to who in the forum

Over the years, we've tried two options with the way the forum works - flat and threaded forum replies.

Flat is where no replies are indented. Where replies are a response to an earlier reply (a 'reply to a reply'), by default they include a copy of that earlier reply. So, this can get quite unwieldy.

Threaded, like we have now, inserts replies directly under earlier replies where a person is responding to that reply. This makes it easier to see who's responding to what, but it does mean that replies are not organised by time sequence.

Some people prefer one and some another. When we've tried flat, user feedback always sends us back to threaded for all its downsides.

A comment by a new member yesterday made me think again and I wondered if I couldn't make the threaded style a little easier to navigate. So I'm trying something new. You'll now see a 'reply to reply' level indicator.Here's how it'll work.

Any reply with no number next to it is simply a response to the original post, added by entering text in the box directly under the original post.

If someone posts a 'reply to a reply', their response will now have a level indicator between 1 and 9. In theory a reply to a reply should have a number one greater than the reply you're responding to. Here's an example:

To add a 'reply to a reply', you click the reply link under the reply you want to reply to.

Let me know what you think, Helpful or just more clutter?