Can this ever happen?
 

say in a populated forum can 2 users hit the post a thread button at the same time and get the same thread ID thus making a conflict or are there precautions build in it. THnaks

The thread ID is generated when the user is finished creating the thread and hits the Post button.

And I've never heard of an instance of a "tie" when creating a thread or reply. Computers are much quicker than your index finger, thankfully :)

If your database has all the corect Auto-Increment settings, then this should never happen.