and opened up a different thread, it was in flat view.  Don't know why yours is not.  Suggest you contact admin, don't know what else to tell you.

Swi

...always came up 'flat'.  I kept changing it to 'tree' until finally 'tree' became the default position.  Maybe the site finally recognized my preference and adjusted accordingly.

IF I  open a message and set it to flat, and then use my back page button to go back to the board
 ( or any other key stroke that takes you 'back') it goes back to tree format - going backwards erased my choice
however,  
If I choose flat, and then instead of using the back page button I use the board drop down menu, and return to board I was on, the messages now are all in flat -  some how it 'saves' the flat choice -  
hope that makes sense   try it  
Charxo

-- Modified on 6/29/2014 4:19:29 PM

Replies end up in the wrong place. Threads don't make sense. You can't tell who is replying to who. I have seen a few trainwrecks start just because someone's reply was in the wrong place.

In any case, if you insist on it, Charlotte is correct. Go forward, not back.

...created by some using one while some use the other. If everyone used flat it would work because there is no "reply" just "quote". You hit "quote" to reply and everyone can see who/what you are replying to. If everyone used tree then the bullets next to the posts help you keep things lined up when the threads get long. Short threads you can tell by the replys being under the post they are replying to. The bullets are there too but not really needed.

When a tree person is reading something posted by a flat person or vice versa you can't tell squat. That's when the shit happens as perfectstorm stated. I've seen it to. I like flat mode but for long threads it would cover a page quickly. I use it when threads have no discussion branches. I also used it for the photo threads before admin defaulted the photo board to flat.

If you're coming over from a smaller less trafficed board it probably had a "flat" mode of some kind. I'm on a few boards that don't have the traffic TER does. They use a flat mode format. It doesn't work well with as much traffic as TER gets. Though some of the regional boards are dead it might not matter on them.