I really understand this thread would be unmanageable if your settings weren't right. I have set mine up so any thread I respond to then posts to my inbox and the point where I last read the replies. This way I am not dealing with the parts I have already read. The only reason it was so cumbersome is that I hadn't found and read it earlier. This is great for any thread that continues for an extended period of time. I follow some that go on for a year or longer. Additionally it provides a place to keep updating when quilts are completed a long time after the thread was started.