1. A method of handling queries for an online discussion forum, said method comprising: receiving a query; automatically classifying the query as subjective or objective; thereupon calculating, for discussion threads of the query, at least one of: a subjectivity score and an objectivity score; said calculating comprising: applying a maximum entropy model; and incorporating, with respect to at least one discussion thread, at least one member taken from the group consisting of: a number of posts in a discussion thread; average number of words in posts, presence of a predetermined pattern among posts, a number of authors of posts within a discussion thread, average depth of each post, maximum depth of a post, and length of at least one reply; and determining a degree of relevance to the query of: the discussion threads, and at least one post in the at least one discussion thread; said determining of the degree of relevance of the query to the discussion threads comprising: iteratively determining a relevance score with respect to each post in a discussion thread and then accepting a maximum relevance score with respect to a post in a discussion thread; determining a penalty or reward regulizer with respect to choosing a predetermined number of posts for calculating a relevance score of a thread; and including at least one of: a subjectivity score of the thread and an objectivity score of the thread; and ranking the discussion threads based on said calculating and determining of a degree of relevance of the query to the discussion threads.