cdub,
It's way better because others can't see a thread....... so if you're a coach (like me), you're putting peeps into their own threads to do one on one private consulting, but you're getting the benefit of the entire history being right there. Super easy to look over the history, and even easier to make sure you've answered everyone in a node. Then once you're done = close the thread until they need more help and either reopen it or create a new private thread.
Brilliant feature.