There are problems with the threaded model, but they're not the same problems that Jeff is saying that there are. The real problems are:
1. When ranking threaded comments, often times a low-ranked comment attached to a high-ranked comment will be read before a more highly ranked top-posted comment.
2. Two diverging branches of the tree can result in the same discussion occurring at two different points in the thread.
3. It's very easy for niche discussions to become the focal point of the conversation, which, while good for discussion, detracts from the subject matter.
I don't think any threaded discussion system has solved all of these - Slashdot has its threshold filters, reddit compresses large threads with a similar threshold, HN is more simple but I find the text dimming effect to be valuable. Facebook doesn't really need to be concerned with these things as much, because the discussions are usually more personal and shorter. Stack Exchange is obviously an outlier here, but I feel that if its mods weren't so jackbooted it would have devolved into a similar discussion system long ago.
I think the biggest problem with our current discussion systems is that they are inefficient. Sometimes experts will avoid a conversation because they can't quickly and easily reply on all points. Multiple conversations can happen on the same topic (or in the case of the news sites mentioned, across different posts entirely). People get karma for being snarky but that's different than the karma given for being wise, being analytical, or doing the legwork (finding references, etc) so that others don't have to.
If you then consider the extreme - a contextual tag-based karma system with threads combined based on their subject matter, you quickly realize that no one will do anything with that because it's too complex.
What we need is curated discussion - not the Steve Jobs kind, but rather the kind you get when you go to a dinner party and the host introduces you to someone that you really wish you had met years ago. Unfortunately, that kind of discussion can only happen currently in more intimate settings, or, in the case of a site like reddit, if we have limited AIs that can actually determine the context and sentiment of a discussion, and alter the structure of the thread tree based on that.
Unfortunately, you're never going to get something like that in an ad-driven Internet.
1. When ranking threaded comments, often times a low-ranked comment attached to a high-ranked comment will be read before a more highly ranked top-posted comment.
2. Two diverging branches of the tree can result in the same discussion occurring at two different points in the thread.
3. It's very easy for niche discussions to become the focal point of the conversation, which, while good for discussion, detracts from the subject matter.
I don't think any threaded discussion system has solved all of these - Slashdot has its threshold filters, reddit compresses large threads with a similar threshold, HN is more simple but I find the text dimming effect to be valuable. Facebook doesn't really need to be concerned with these things as much, because the discussions are usually more personal and shorter. Stack Exchange is obviously an outlier here, but I feel that if its mods weren't so jackbooted it would have devolved into a similar discussion system long ago.
I think the biggest problem with our current discussion systems is that they are inefficient. Sometimes experts will avoid a conversation because they can't quickly and easily reply on all points. Multiple conversations can happen on the same topic (or in the case of the news sites mentioned, across different posts entirely). People get karma for being snarky but that's different than the karma given for being wise, being analytical, or doing the legwork (finding references, etc) so that others don't have to.
If you then consider the extreme - a contextual tag-based karma system with threads combined based on their subject matter, you quickly realize that no one will do anything with that because it's too complex.
What we need is curated discussion - not the Steve Jobs kind, but rather the kind you get when you go to a dinner party and the host introduces you to someone that you really wish you had met years ago. Unfortunately, that kind of discussion can only happen currently in more intimate settings, or, in the case of a site like reddit, if we have limited AIs that can actually determine the context and sentiment of a discussion, and alter the structure of the thread tree based on that.
Unfortunately, you're never going to get something like that in an ad-driven Internet.