"New Thread" Button Within Threads

Does anyone ever use the "New Thread" button while they're IN a thread? I really hate this button and I wish it could be deleted. Here's why:

When I go to answer a thread, I often hit the "New Thread" button, which coincidently sits RIGHT BESIDE the "Post Reply" button. So, after I compose my post and hit "Post", I get the message:

There is already a thread in the forum with that topic.
Please use your browser's back button and select a different topic.

And of course, my back button takes me back to a blank reply screen, meaning my perfectly composed post is lost forever...

Now, I'm one who usually answers these kinds of threads with "Use Word to compose your replies" or some such trite response. But what's the purpose of this button WITHIN a THREAD? If you want to start a new thread, go to the proper forum and start it.

Does anyone use the "New Thread" button while you're in a thread? Would it be too much trouble to just pop up one level to start a new thread?

Any comments or thoughts on this?

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic So, after I compose my post and hit "Post", I get the message:

There is already a thread in the forum with that topic.
Please use your browser's back button and select a different topic.

I just hate it when that happens.

Yes I have done that a few times.

Okay, more than a few. The two buttons are too close together, imo.

As for starting a new thread I usually do go to the forum homepage.

[edit on 6/12/2006 by Mechanic 32]

Yup....

It should be killed.... I hate when that happens...

...and nobody better say anything about my indiscriminate and mindless clicking. I like being the blind man spear fishing...

I agree.
The New Thread button should be removed from within threads.

I've clicked on it before myself, usually when trying to reply to a locked thread that I didn't know was locked and that button was the only one there.

It looks like a few of us have faced the horror of that button.
It's very frustrating when you've put some work into a reply only to have it vanish into the realm of lost posts.

Ok, I know that I am on here a lot. I must have missed something in my training on this site. That is the only way I know how to start a thread. I go a thread in the appropriate forum, and click the "new thread" button.

I am sure that there is a way that is so much easier, but I never took the time to find it, and I am sure it has been right under my nose.

Edit- I just took the time to find it, and I did. I don't know where my brain is sometimes.

[edit on 6/12/06 by niteboy82]

I use it all the time.

Originally posted by kinglizard
I use it all the time.

Well, ok. I couldn't imagine anyone reading through a thread and deciding to start a new thread from inside an existing thread, but if it happens, it happens.

Thanks for the responses.

Originally posted by niteboy82
Ok, I know that I am on here a lot. I must have missed something in my training on this site. That is the only way I know how to start a thread. I go a thread in the appropriate forum, and click the "new thread" button.

I am sure that there is a way that is so much easier, but I never took the time to find it, and I am sure it has been right under my nose.

Edit- I just took the time to find it, and I did.

I don't know where my brain is sometimes.

[edit on 6/12/06 by niteboy82]

I do the same EXACT thing...
ALL the time

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Well, ok. I couldn't imagine anyone reading through a thread and deciding to start a new thread from inside an existing thread, but if it happens, it happens.

Yeah, you know, I don't think I've ever started a thread any other way...are there other options? lol

I always go to the forum I want to post in (Other Current Events, for example) and click the "New Thread" button there.

Could it be so simple that you just have to take the extra .002 seconds worth of effort to make sure you're clicking the correct button?

On top of that, if you miss that obvious roadsign, you have the button at the end saying "Post New Topic" versus the "Post Reply." Oh, and there's the "Above Top Secret 5.0 » Forum Name Here » Post New Topic" to help you along your way. Also, the url would contain an "action=newthread" versus an "action=reply."

I'm sorry, but I really think that this is simply a user problem than a website problem. Ironically, my very first post (or at least one of them) I made here at ATS was meant to be a reply. Of course, I realized right after I did it the err of my ways and made a conscious effort to click the proper link. After all, you really don't learn anything from your mistakes until you take the effort to change the results in later situations.

Could you be so considerate to read the thread (or at least my posts in it) to see that I have conceded that since other people DO use the button, it must serve a purpose?

I thought long and hard about posting this thread and this is the first time I have made such a thread ASKING about a function on the board and I get attitude from someone who is supposed to be there to help the membership.

Yuck!