Lack of connectivity and sustainability are two common problems in asynchronous online discussions. In this paper, the author proposes that the two problems may have to do with the structure of threaded forums, that is, the design of threaded forums may constrain participants from having well-connected and sustained discussions. A new discussion environment was developed to promote the connectivity and sustainability of discussion in an online course, and an exploratory study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the new environment. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)