In the ThreadModeConsideredHarmful I do state that in a threaded discussion the topic may warp, or sidetrack. 

When dealing with a given KnowledgeDomain such wraps or sidetracks may to do much harm because they really take the concentration away from the original thought or idea. -- OveRubenOlsen 

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"wraps... may to do much harm because they... take.. concentration away from the original thought..."

Instead of responding inline, you can: create a new section using a horizontal line, copy the interesting part in at the top as a quote and respond to it within the new section. The existing ThreadMode remains undisturbed and the new section can contain a complete digression without harm or interruption. See HowToWriteAndEditThreadMode for more ideas on how to successfully use ThreadMode -- PhilGoodwin

I partly agree with your approach is a good one - on the other hand this may in certain contexts (but not always) tear apart the natural (if one may call it that) flow of communication.

Even better, why not just create a new LinkPattern right inside the text (as I did for this topic). -- OveRubenOlsen

That is also a reasonable approach. However, it should only be done when you know that the topic is large enough to support its own page. I find that I start by creating a section with a quote from another section at the top (if I'm responding out-of-line to someone else). Later I find myself putting titles in bold on the sections, I also try to sheppard the different sub-threads in to the sections where they seem to belong. If a sections seems pretty big or it seems to be a separate idea then I consider moving it to another page (an existing one if it's appropriate). So there are different solutions for different situations. -- PhilGoodwin

Phil- I'm not clear on this. How much does Ward charge per page again? --KentBeck

''However, it should only be done when you know that the topic is large enough to support its own page. '' - But is this not the very way of how the Wiki is susposed to work (see WikiNature), that is - create new (sub) topics, or have I maybe misunderstood something? -- OveRubenOlsen (just curious as a new user)

The per page charge last I checked was one name. It's cheap unless you can't think of one. If it makes sense to create a new page then go ahead. I've just noticed that sometimes I want to keep sub-threads together on the same page because they are so very closely related, but I also want to separate, and sometimes even label, them because they have interesting differences. -- PhilGoodwin

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CategoryWiki