There has been some useful discussion on this subject. It seems to be a matter of personal preference. Search on “flat mode” or “threaded mode” to find the discussion. You can use the icons on the top right of the thread menu bar to switch modes.

It can be helpful if people quote a little of the post that they are replying to, to help flat-moders find out what is going on. See the Making a post sub-thread for more discussion on this.

Becoming Unthreaded
When accessing old thread you might find that you can only view them in threaded mode, once you get past page 1 of flat mode they seem to cross-link to other threads. I tend to find this a little disconcerting but it seems to be part of the amusement of the board.

Using More than One Window
Some (most) browsers will let you have more than one window of AWAD open at a time. This can be very useful and may save you getting lost, especially if you need to use “Search” or are adding a post and trying to link to a previous post. http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=15640