Fork and return point selection for sidebar communication threads

A computing device for providing a sidebar thread for a communication, the computing device comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory, storing instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a command, over a communication network, from a sender, to create a sidebar thread forked from a specified message of a first communication thread, the first communication thread between a first plurality of first communication thread participants including the sender, the sidebar thread being a thread between a second plurality of sidebar thread participants including the sender and a sidebar recipient, the command to create the sidebar thread including a first message, an address of a final recipient, and an address of the sidebar recipient;
• responsive to receiving the command:
• causing a notification of the sidebar thread to be sent over the communication network to the address of the sidebar recipient, the notification including the first message and a portion or a link to a portion of the first communication thread;
• receiving an indication of a reply position in the first communication thread to post a reply;
• determining an identifier of the first communication thread using a thread identifier field in a data structure of the specified message of the first communication thread;
• searching a communication server data store to find a message data structure with a thread identifier field that matches the identifier of the first communication thread and that has a message index matching the reply position;
• receiving an approval or a modification of the first message, over the communication network, from the sidebar recipient in the sidebar thread;
• responsive to receiving the approval or the modification of the first message, automatically;
• creating a communication message from an address of the sender addressed to the address of the final recipient by including the approved first message or the modification of the first message;
• and
• posting the communication message to the final recipient from the address of the sender in the first communication thread as a reply to the message corresponding to the found message data structure, the message addressed to the final recipient and including at least a portion of a message body field of the message data structure.

A device for providing a sidebar thread for a communication, the device comprising:

• means for receiving a command, over a communication network, from a sender, to create a sidebar thread forked from a specified message of a first communication thread, the first communication thread between a first plurality of first communication thread participants including the sender, the sidebar thread being a thread between a second plurality of sidebar thread participants including the sender and a sidebar recipient, the command to create the sidebar thread including a first message, an address of a final recipient, and an address of the sidebar recipient;
• responsive to receiving the command:
• means for causing a notification of the sidebar thread to be sent over the communication network to the address of the sidebar recipient, the notification including the first message and a portion or a link to a portion of the first communication thread;
• means for receiving an indication of a reply position in the first communication thread to post a reply;
• means for determining an identifier of the first communication thread using a thread identifier field in a data structure of the specified message of the first communication thread;
• means for searching a communication server data store to find a message data structure with a thread identifier field that matches the identifier of the first communication thread and that has a message index matching the reply position;
• means for receiving an approval or a modification of the first message, over the communication network, from the sidebar recipient in the sidebar thread;
• means for, responsive to receiving the approval or the modification of the first message, automatically:
• creating a communication message from an address of the sender addressed to the address of the final recipient by including the approved first message or the modification of the first message;
• and
• posting the communication message to the final recipient from the address of the sender in the first communication thread as a reply to the message corresponding to the found message data structure, the message addressed to the final recipient and including at least a portion of a message body field of the message data structure.