Thread

A discussion thread (often simplified as just thread) is a group of messages or postings on a forum related to a single, common topic. Since the official regional message boards can only display 10 posts at a time, and since regional message board posts are unmoderated and not archived, most players make extensive use of discussion threads in order to roleplay and communicate. In NationStates it is common for regions to create their own regional forums to supplement the official Jolt forum. Threads on different forums are not related, but sometimes people will include links to threads in different forums. This is extremely common on the regional forums when players want to call the attention of other nations within a region to larger matters.

Jolt threads

As the official forum for NationStates, Jolt recieves the largest amount of NationStates traffic. Since Jolt is moderated, threads on the forum will frequently be locked when they violate any of the standing forum rules. In practice, the player that started a discussion thread may request that moderators lock a thread, either by making a new request in the Moderation forum or in the thread itself (though a request made in the thread is unlikely to be seen by moderators).

There are rules on what type of discussions are appropriate for each of the forums. People are encouraged to read the frequently asked questions (FAQs) that are pinned at the top of each sub-forum before posting. When a thread is started in a sub-forum that should have been created in a different sub-forum, the moderators may move that thread.

Threads that are extremely popular and significant may sometimes be locked when the discussion appears over and then moved to the special Archive forum. Very few threads are moved to the Archive forum.

Threads that are extremely long, are sometimes locked due just to the number of posts in the thread. This is done to facilitate easier management of the threads, so threads locked due to length reasons alone may be restarted as a new thread. This happens the most on the General forum.

Regional threads

Discussion threads on the regional forums are not considered officially part of NationStates, thus the NationStates moderators will not officially act on statements posted in regional threads. However, some moderators still visit regional forums as lurkers.