Topic vs Thread?

[Tanax]

Heya.

I don't know if this has been talked about before, but I was just wondering; Why did you name it Topic instead of Thread?
This is not a bash thread..hrm.. topic, I'm merely wondering how you thought and why you picked Topic.

IMO Thread is a better suiting name since in grammar.. a topic, as you all know, is a subject. Or better put it; It's the topic that describes what the sentence is about. So, a Thread can have a topic(which would be a title) since the topic describes what the Thread is about = title. A Thread can mean many things, but basically it's some sort of line of events, in this case it means a line of posts that all circulates around the same event(which would be the topic of the Thread). That means that a Thread can have a topic, but the Thread itself should not be called a Topic.

So in my book, Thread is the better word to use.
But, I'm interested in knowing why you picked Topic instead. I gave you my thinking, now give me yours :)

[Olivier Turbis]

and now I'm confused

[DawPi]

"Thread" is using in v ... B ;), 'topic' in IP.Board. ^_^

[Wolfie]

IMO Thread is a better suiting name since in grammar.. a topic, as you all know, is a subject.

Topic = title or subject of the post/discussion.

When you write an essay, you choose a topic to discuss, not a thread. The name of the discussion is thus the subject or topic, while thread is what you use to sew with.

[Morrigan]

As Oliver said:

and now I'm confused

The word "Topic" is above the "Topics of discussion" also known as Thread titles. It makes sense that it is called a topic since that is what you want to discuss in the thread. So you titled your thread "topic":
Replying to Topic vs Thread?
So in the Topic list it shows "Replying to Topic vs Thread?" then you click on that and enter the thread about the topic, "Replying to Topic vs Thread?".

So maybe it's just a confusing jumble of words that everyone confuses anyways?

[Axel Wers]

I translated topic to my language so I solved this confusing issue.

[Abomination]

So:

Thread = topic
sticky = pinned
New Thread = New topic
Post Reply = Add Reply, except under the Fast Reply box it is 'Post'

Did I get it right?

[Tanax]

and now I'm confused

As you see at the top of this page, there are 2 buttons "Watch this TOPIC" and "Start a new TOPIC". IPB choose to call it Topic, while vB calls the same exact thing as Thread. So in their case, it would say "Watch this thread" and "Create a new thread".

And this thread(or topic if you want to call it by IPB naming) was created because I wanted to know why you, IPB, picked the word Topic instead of the word Thread, since to me, calling it Thread makes more sence.

Topic = title or subject of the post/discussion.

When you write an essay, you choose a topic to discuss, not a thread. The name of the discussion is thus the subject or topic, while thread is what you use to sew with.

Exactly. A thread is used to sew together stuff, in this case, a thread is used to describe a collection of posts that are sewed(is that english?) together under the same title/subject. And like I said, the topic, which is the title of the thread, is used to describe what is being discussed within the thread.

As Oliver said:

The word "Topic" is above the "Topics of discussion" also known as Thread titles. It makes sense that it is called a topic since that is what you want to discuss in the thread. So you titled your thread "topic":

Replying to Topic vs Thread?

So in the Topic list it shows "Replying to Topic vs Thread?" then you click on that and enter the thread about the topic, "Replying to Topic vs Thread?".

So maybe it's just a confusing jumble of words that everyone confuses anyways?

It is very confusing. But as I said, I really want to know why IPB picked Topic to describe what essentially is a Thread in my eyes. Topic is the title of the thread.

I translated topic to my language so I solved this confusing issue.

Ah yes, that's one solution. But, fact of matter is that it IS a confusing issue. Perhaps IPB should rename it? Or the least they could do is what I asked them to do in the beginning of this thread, explain why they are calling it topic instead of thread.

[Wolfie]

So:

Thread = topic

sticky = pinned

New Thread = New topic

Post Reply = Add Reply, except under the Fast Reply box it is 'Post'

Did I get it right?

Thread = something to sew with
Sticky = something that is gooey or icky (like caramel on your fingers)
New thread = sewing material you just purchased
Post reply = Responding to the Post cereal company after they send you coupons to get a free box of sugar to eat for breakfast.

:)

Okay being serious, so long as people know what they mean, then what does it matter what other companies call them? If someone knows that another company says 'thread' instead of topic and 'sticky' for something that is pinned, then what's the issue?

Perhaps IPB should rename it? Or the least they could do is what I asked them to do in the beginning of this thread, explain why they are calling it topic instead of thread.

Why? You already explained it yourself...

Exactly. A thread is used to sew together stuff, in this case, a thread is used to describe a collection of posts that are sewed(is that english?) together under the same title/subject. And like I said, the topic, which is the title of the thread, is used to describe what is being discussed within the thread.

[Tanax]

Thread = something to sew with

Sticky = something that is gooey or icky (like caramel on your fingers)

New thread = sewing material you just purchased

Post reply = Responding to the Post cereal company after they send you coupons to get a free box of sugar to eat for breakfast.

:)

Okay being serious, so long as people know what they mean, then what does it matter what other companies call them? If someone knows that another company says 'thread' instead of topic and 'sticky' for something that is pinned, then what's the issue?

Why? You already explained it yourself...

The issue is that even if people know what you mean, it is still a completely wrong word to use since a topic is used to describe the subject of a sentence in grammar. It's like using the word "engine" to describe a car. Sure enough, a car has an engine, but car != engine(car IS NOT engine).

No I didn't explain it. Or perhaps you misunderstood that part then. What I wrote is that the topic is used to describe what is being discussed WITHIN the thread. Not used to replace the word thread. I'm still wondering why IPB picked the word topic to replace the word thread and I did not explain that myself anywhere since, to me, calling a thread as "topic" instead is completely wrong in my eyes.

[sunrisecc]

As per, http://dictionary.re...om/browse/topic, I prefer the three definitions in total and I don't select one part only.

[Morrigan]

Funnily enough the linguistics of it all just merges together in my mind. I know Thread and Topic are essentially the same thing so it doesn't bother me.

I don't speak for IPS but it could have been just wanting to be different. I don't know what the old Ikonboard used but it's possible they just continued using that.

[Amy T]

I have seen forums use the term thread instead of topic and I never under stud why as topic makes better sense.

[Wolfie]

The issue is that even if people know what you mean, it is still a completely wrong word to use since a topic is used to describe the subject of a sentence in grammar. It's like using the word "engine" to describe a car. Sure enough, a car has an engine, but car != engine(car IS NOT engine).

No I didn't explain it. Or perhaps you misunderstood that part then. What I wrote is that the topic is used to describe what is being discussed WITHIN the thread. Not used to replace the word thread. I'm still wondering why IPB picked the word topic to replace the word thread and I did not explain that myself anywhere since, to me, calling a thread as "topic" instead is completely wrong in my eyes.

What I find interesting is that you are supporting the word topic over thread, even though you somehow don't see it for yourself.

The TOPIC of discussion is what people are talking about. When someone starts a new topic (a new discussion), there is no guarantee that it will turn into a thread (using the description that multiple posts constitutes a thread). The idea of a title is to let people know what the subject matter is, ie, the TOPIC of discussion. It's not a "Give this thread a name", but more to help people decide if they want to view the contents or not. Otherwise, if it's nothing more than a name, why did you decide on the TOPIC of "Topic vs Thread?" Why not name it something like, "The funny discussion thread"?

Synonyms of "topic" are affair, argument, business, case, division, field, head, issue, material, matter, matter in hand, moot point, motif, motion, motive, point, point in question, problem, proposition, question, resolution, subject, text, theme, theorem, thesis

Synonyms of "thread" are braid, cord, cotton, fiber, fibril, filament, floss, gossamer, hair, lisle, ribbon, strand, string, wire, wool, yarn, cord, cotton, filament, flax, floss, ligature, lint, lisle, pile, ravel, raveling, silk, stamen, staple, strand, string, thrum, twine, warp, weft, wire, woof, wool, yarn

In a forum, posts within a topic are threaded together, yes. But thread is a description of there being a collection, not the content. The title of the content is the material being discussed. You know, the subject, theme, point, aka topic being discussed.

Your car/engine analogy makes no sense to be honest. To make it more relevant, the car would be what is bringing everything together. The name of the car (make/model) would describe what you would be reading about/discussing. The make/model of the car is the topic, with the 'thread' being the collection of parts being held together. You're not naming the thread, you're naming the car, which is the main focus.

[Tanax]

I have seen forums use the term thread instead of topic and I never under stud why as topic makes better sense.

Care to explain why it makes better sense to you?


Another example to kind of enforce my point, is that when you're in school you have subjects, or classes. Like.. Math class. You talk in there, much like you talk in here right now. The subject is obviously math, but you're discussing math within a ROOM - in this case you're discussing the subject within a THREAD. You're discussing the topic, yes, but you're doing it in a thread.

Another thing is when you have moderator abilities, you can "lock a topic" for replies. You're not locking the topic, the topic will still be .. math in this case, it's just that the door to the classroom is locked - the THREAD is locked for replies. You can't post to the thread - you can't enter the classroom, but the subject will still be there on your schedual(forumview) and say "Mathclass".

[Wolfie]

Another example to kind of enforce my point, is that when you're in school you have subjects, or classes. Like.. Math class. You talk in there, much like you talk in here right now. The subject is obviously math, but you're discussing math within a ROOM - in this case you're discussing the subject within a THREAD. You're discussing the topic, yes, but you're doing it in a thread.

Another thing is when you have moderator abilities, you can "lock a topic" for replies. You're not locking the topic, the topic will still be .. math in this case, it's just that the door to the classroom is locked - the THREAD is locked for replies. You can't post to the thread - you can't enter the classroom, but the subject will still be there on your schedual(forumview) and say "Mathclass".

You're thinking too generally.

Schedule = Category
Math class = discussions about math. That would be the forum within the category.
Division = topic, a specific part of math. That would be the title of the discussion within the forum, ie, the topic.
Actual discussion (question from students, answers from teacher) = posts, held together (threaded together) as part of the topic.

Thread would actually be a subset of topic, not the other way around.

[Tanax]

What I find interesting is that you are supporting the word topic over thread, even though you somehow don't see it for yourself.

The TOPIC of discussion is what people are talking about. When someone starts a new topic (a new discussion), there is no guarantee that it will turn into a thread (using the description that multiple posts constitutes a thread). The idea of a title is to let people know what the subject matter is, ie, the TOPIC of discussion. It's not a "Give this thread a name", but more to help people decide if they want to view the contents or not. Otherwise, if it's nothing more than a name, why did you decide on the TOPIC of "Topic vs Thread?" Why not name it something like, "The funny discussion thread"?

Synonyms of "topic" are affair, argument, business, case, division, field, head, issue, material, matter, matter in hand, moot point, motif, motion, motive, point, point in question, problem, proposition, question, resolution, subject, text, theme, theorem, thesis

Synonyms of "thread" are braid, cord, cotton, fiber, fibril, filament, floss, gossamer, hair, lisle, ribbon, strand, string, wire, wool, yarn, cord, cotton, filament, flax, floss, ligature, lint, lisle, pile, ravel, raveling, silk, stamen, staple, strand, string, thrum, twine, warp, weft, wire, woof, wool, yarn

In a forum, posts within a topic are threaded together, yes. But thread is a description of there being a collection, not the content. The title of the content is the material being discussed. You know, the subject, theme, point, aka topic being discussed.

Your car/engine analogy makes no sense to be honest. To make it more relevant, the car would be what is bringing everything together. The name of the car (make/model) would describe what you would be reading about/discussing. The make/model of the car is the topic, with the 'thread' being the collection of parts being held together. You're not naming the thread, you're naming the car, which is the main focus.

I'm not supporting the word topic over thread?
In my view, a topic is the name of the thread. A thread is where the posts are.

And because the posts in a forum is threaded together, it should, again in my view, be called a thread - eventhough the thread doesn't have any replies. It's just that the thread IS threaded -enabled from the beginning when there are 0 replies so that's why it doesn't need to be more than 1 post to be called a thread.

And yes, there you say it like I want it, it's the topic that is the title of the content(thread).
And regarding the car, I just wrote something :P But you seem to have understood what I meant. Topic would be the model of the car while thread is the collection of parts being held together.

[Tanax]

You're thinking too generally.

Schedule = Category

Math class = discussions about math. That would be the forum within the category.

Division = topic, a specific part of math. That would be the title of the discussion within the forum, ie, the topic.

Actual discussion (question from students, answers from teacher) = posts, held together (threaded together) as part of the topic.

Thread would actually be a subset of topic, not the other way around.

Stop marking everything I write. You know what I mean. If you want, write your own descriptions to describe what I mean.
The question still stands to IPS; Why did you choose the word topic instead of thread?

[Wolfie]

I'm not supporting the word topic over thread?

In my view, a topic is the name of the thread. A thread is where the posts are.

And because the posts in a forum is threaded together, it should, again in my view, be called a thread - eventhough the thread doesn't have any replies. It's just that the thread IS threaded -enabled from the beginning when there are 0 replies so that's why it doesn't need to be more than 1 post to be called a thread.

And yes, there you say it like I want it, it's the topic that is the title of the content(thread).

And regarding the car, I just wrote something :P But you seem to have understood what I meant. Topic would be the model of the car while thread is the collection of parts being held together.

Let's make this real easy.

Thread = collection of posts
Topic = what the discussion (the included posts) are about

If you had to write a term paper for class, would you come up with a topic to discuss, or a thread to discuss?

Stop marking everything I write. You know what I mean. If you want, write your own descriptions to describe what I mean.

The question still stands to IPS; Why did you choose the word topic instead of thread?

I took your correlations and corrected them.

School = entire board
schedule, after school activities, staff, etc = different categories
Within the categories you would have different forums. In the schedule category you would have the different classes (math, science, etc)
Within the math class, you would have different topics related to math (division, fractions, etc)
Within those topics, you would have posts

The way you were breaking it down, you would have a topics for math, intermixed with topics for science, reading, etc. Still, they would be topics, threaded together.


Another way to look at it. Do you wear threads or do you wear pants? Pants are pieces of clothe threaded together. "Excuse my while I put on a pair of threads." "Do these threads make my butt look big?" "These threads are a little lose, do you have a belt I can wear?" "The zipper on my threads is stuck."

It's the same thing. Pants = parts of clothing held together by threads. Topic = posts threaded together.

:)

[Michael]

To me, a thread is a piece of string, and a topic is something you discuss. I've never heard anywhere outside of vBulletin where a discussion is referred to as a thread. Topic makes much more sense to me.

[Ryan H.]

I use them both interchangeably. I don't see why it makes such a difference. Topic is, however, probably the more natural and more common way to refer to it.

[Tanax]

Let's make this real easy.

Thread = collection of posts

Topic = what the discussion (the included posts) are about

If you had to write a term paper for class, would you come up with a topic to discuss, or a thread to discuss?

I would come up with a topic to discuss, of course.
And by reading this part correctly, it seems as if you are actually agreeing with me that it should be called thread instead?

I took your correlations and corrected them.

School = entire board

schedule, after school activities, staff, etc = different categories

Within the categories you would have different forums. In the schedule category you would have the different classes (math, science, etc)

Within the math class, you would have different topics related to math (division, fractions, etc)

Within those topics, you would have posts

The way you were breaking it down, you would have a topics for math, intermixed with topics for science, reading, etc. Still, they would be topics, threaded together.

Another way to look at it. Do you wear threads or do you wear pants? Pants are pieces of clothe threaded together. "Excuse my while I put on a pair of threads." "Do these threads make my butt look big?" "These threads are a little lose, do you have a belt I can wear?" "The zipper on my threads is stuck."

It's the same thing. Pants = parts of clothing held together by threads. Topic = posts threaded together.

:)

And here it seems as if you're saying that it should be called topic instead since you say "Topic = posts threaded together", or perhaps I'm misreading all of this. This is really confusing :P

To me, a thread is a piece of string, and a topic is something you discuss. I've never heard anywhere outside of vBulletin where a discussion is referred to as a thread. Topic makes much more sense to me.

Yea but you know, since the posts are posted in a string(after each other) they in fact form a thread. A topic is indeed something you discuss, but it's discussed within the thread of posts - right? Let's put it this way, a thread must have a topic.

God I'm trying to figure out an example but I know I'll just fail miserably and then Wolfie will come and bash me :P(joking).
But to put it simple;

Thread: A string/serie of posts tied together that are about the same subject
Topic: The subject of a thread that all posts in the thread should follow/discuss, otherwise they are posting "off-topic"(which usually gets deleted).

And regarding "off-topic", it's commonly used term to describe when someone posts a post that is not belonging or doesn't make any sense to the conversation. By your naming of a thread as "topic" instead, "off-topic" would mean that a member posts it off the thread.. which means.. not on the forums at all? It won't even make sense.
And your naming of topic as "Topic title", makes so that "off-topic" doesn't even exist in your eyes, the only existing word for you would be "off-topic-title", since the topic title is the subject that your so called "topics" are about.

That was messy :P But hopefully you'll understand.

I use them both interchangeably. I don't see why it makes such a difference. Topic is, however, probably the more natural and more common way to refer to it.

I can't see how topic can ever be the natural and more common way to refer to it. I mean, you even hear it on the word.. topic.. it's the thing you're discussing. You're discussing it in a threaded way on the forums, hence you're discussing the topic in a thread(of posts).


I don't mean to sound rude or anything, I'm just trying to figure out how you people think :P

[Michael]

I mean, you even hear it on the word.. topic.. it's the thing you're discussing.

This is why we call it a topic, I'm not understanding why this is confusing to you, these are your own words. :unsure:

[Tanax]

This is why we call it a topic, I'm not understanding why this is confusing to you, these are your own words. :unsure:

I mean, you even hear it on the word.. topic.. it's the thing you're discussing. You're discussing it in a threaded way on the forums, hence you're discussing the topic in a thread(of posts).

[Wolfie]

I can't see how topic can ever be the natural and more common way to refer to it. I mean, you even hear it on the word.. topic.. it's the thing you're discussing. You're discussing it in a threaded way on the forums, hence you're discussing the topic in a thread(of posts).

Topic = subject/material being discussed withing the individual posts, making up the core of the discussion, thus what is the topic?

Let's tackle this from another point of view. When you compose a new email to someone, do you give it a subject/title to describe the contents, to which you may very well get a reply and even carry on a conversation (thus a THREAD of emails)? Or do you give it a thread to describe the contents?

Doing some research on the words will show you that topic is the more appropriate word to use. "Back in the day", when you started a new discussion, it asked for the subject. Even though the posts were still 'threaded' together, it wasn't called a thread.

Another thing to consider is that the word 'thread' also refers to the LAYOUT of the posts, but someone can view the topic in a different ways. IMDb has "thread, flat, inline and nest" for the different views and to start a new discussion, you click a link to "Start New Topic". IPB has "Standard, Linear+ and Outline" for the views and you click a button to "Start New Topic" or "Start A New Topic".

:)