Thread Mode

When a wiki page meant to be informative becomes dominated by edits responding to each other instead of improving the page, the page is said to have 'degenerated into thread mode'. This state is considered destructive to the wiki, as it changes the focus from facts to the conflict of opinions.

A paragraph which includes phrases like "however" or "despite this" multiple times in sequence is usually a sign that a page has degenerated into thread mode. In extreme manifestations of this phenomenon, sentences stop bothering to even keep up the appearance of following the previous sentence's train of thought, and the reader is subjected to perfectly fluid prose that abruptly changes its opinion one-hundred-and-eighty degrees mid-sentence. Other times, the back-and-forth will take the form of nested bullet points responding to each other with "um" and "not really" and "to be fair".

This does not provide a fun reading experience at all.