What are threads?

I hear some people saying, “this thread.” Or, “That thread”. Can anyone explain to me?

You just created one here (all what you just said has created a Forum Thread , that i just responded to here). :).

When you click "create topic", you start a thread, which is what we're talking in now.

@MIHIR_KATTI
That's what dictionaries and thesauri are for:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thread
or
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thread

Observations about a word can help you find its correct meaning in a dictionary in a timely manner. It probably will take you longer to read this post than it would have taken you to look it up in a dictionary yourself.

In this case you have already observed that people are talking about "this thread" or "that thread". So you know it's probably a noun and NOT a verb or an adjective. You can rule out the verb "to thread" based on the usage you observed. Then you go through the different meanings of the noun one by one to find the one that fits:

thread
NOUN

Meaning 3 c:
a series of electronic messages (as on a message board or social media website) following a single topic or in response to a single message

I have always assumed that people are calling them "threads" because they are linear (one response after the other) and soon become very long, just like a literal filament or a thread of fibres.

On a related note, many people on the lichess forum confuse the word "thread" with the word "forum". Their meaning is not the same:
Forum derives from the Latin name for the central public marketplace that was always present in a typical ancient Roman city. The one in the city of Rome itself is most famous of course:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

Nowadays people usually use this word metaphorically to mean a place for conversation and discussion: the proverbial "marketplace of ideas". That's how the internet forum got its name.

So to recap:
We're writing messages and responses in a thread (responding to your original post). All of that is happening in the marketplace of ideas that is the internet forum. Hosted on lichess in this particular case.
And we can share ideas in mere seconds from all over the world. Isn't that great?

@Mrchess78 said in #2:

You just created one here (all what you just said has created a Forum Thread , that i just responded to here). :).
No actually, I don’t know what it is. I haven’t been going on social media.

1. Little pieces of string
2. A mechanism by which you can perform true multitasking on computers
3. A social media platform by Meta that no one ever used
4. The grooves in a screw
5. What you just created to ask what they are

@Thalassokrator said in #5:

@MIHIR_KATTI
That's what dictionaries and thesauri are for:
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thread
or
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thread

Observations about a word can help you find its correct meaning in a dictionary in a timely manner. It probably will take you longer to read this post than it would have taken you to look it up in a dictionary yourself.

In this case you have already observed that people are talking about "this thread" or "that thread". So you know it's probably a noun and NOT a verb or an adjective. You can rule out the verb "to thread" based on the usage you observed. Then you go through the different meanings of the noun one by one to find the one that fits:

I have always assumed that people are calling them "threads" because they are linear (one response after the other) and soon become very long, just like a literal filament or a thread of fibres.

On a related note, many people on the lichess forum confuse the word "thread" with the word "forum". Their meaning is not the same:
Forum derives from the Latin name for the central public marketplace that was always present in a typical ancient Roman city. The one in the city of Rome itself is most famous of course:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

Nowadays people usually use this word metaphorically to mean a place for conversation and discussion: the proverbial "marketplace of ideas". That's how the internet forum got its name.

So to recap:
We're writing messages and responses in a thread (responding to your original post). All of that is happening in the marketplace of ideas that is the internet forum. Hosted on lichess in this particular case.
And we can share ideas in mere seconds from all over the world. Isn't that great?
Sorry, my friend. Wikipedia is not a trustable source.

Would it be correct to say that we are now "losing the thread". :)

@Frogster64 said in #9:

Would it be correct to say that we are now "losing the thread". :)

Indeed yes, i guess we reap what we Sew. :). lol