Comment by stackghost

>I don't think the novelty explains very much, the digg/reddit comment tree format is a clear improvement in the sense that it makes it easier to find and track interesting discussions. I always liked the aspect that you could follow a coherent back and forth where the people carrying the conversation tend to change with each comment. Even with all its problems, I can't think of another format that can match it in terms of sharing the spotlight among a diverse set of voices.

The original battle.net forums featured a threaded view much like HN/reddit. Actually, in retrospect it was like mailing list archives.

IIRC they switched to a more orthodox phpbb-like layout because users preferred it.