Looks like the version of vbulletin here defaults to linear viewing, and there's no option to change the view to threaded, or hybrid, in My Options like other forums I frequent that use vbull..

Hydrid view is great since you can see who's replying to who without having to quote all the time.

 

well when you use quick reply at the bottom of the page or click "new reply" at the bottom of the thread on the left, it replies to the last poster, not the OP.

To reply to someone specifically you click the button in the bottom right corner of their post that has a picture of a pencil on paper... but this is just as much work as clicking the quote button

 

I realize that, this is actually a way of viewing threads, there would be a window above the thread that lists all the replies, rather than having to scroll through an entire thread to find a post, you just click on whichever reply you want to see. Just makes navigating threads easier.

The only option in my User CP is for linear mode