Regarding 'keep it to a thread'

This is not about RealID per se, as much as the policy of 'keep it to thread X'.

There are two issues with that as I see it.

First, it makes conversation impossible. In a thread moving as rapidly as the one that triggered this post, trying to find any replies to anything you might have posted becomes insane. Having separate threads allows people to discuss subtopics of the main issue in actual conversation, rather than just yelling out their piece and wandering off as it is swept away in the flood.

Second, it diminishes the visual, and thus psychological, impact of the topic. Seeing only one thread about a topic makes it seem like a minor, insignificant issue. It makes it seem like not that many people seem to have noticed or cared about it. Seeing a page full of commentary on a topic, on the other hand, will cause it to be viewed, if not seriously, at least with the proper amount of emotional charge and a more accurate assessment of the overall reaction (in terms of strength of not direction.)

Also, in all honestly, for the CMs it just becomes an annoying game of Whack-a-mole trying to keep the spreading threads down. There has to be a better use of CM time.