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Ask HN: What determines whether I can reply?

1 points by apotheon 17y ago

I've noticed that in some cases I can't reply to comments, and in others I can. It's not even a case of not being able to respond to comments I've downvoted, or to comments that belong to people I've downvoted elsewhere, or comments within a particular subthread where I've downvoted someone's comment. I don't see the pattern, and it's frustrating to not be able to reply to someone who is engaged in discussion with me. What's the rule?

yan 17y ago
Time proportional to the depth of the comment.
- apotheon 17y ago
  So . . . the deeper the comment, the sooner it "expires"? That makes in-depth discussion kinda difficult. . . . or are you saying that one cannot reply right away, but after a while one can, if the comment is at greater depth -- and I just have to wait?
  - mbrubeck 17y ago
    The latter - deeper comments have a longer delay before you can reply.
    - apotheon 17y ago
      Thanks.
- frossie 17y ago
  In other words (in case that was too succint for the OP) - just wait a while and you will be able to reply. It's supposed to keep the lid on flamewars.
  - apotheon 17y ago
    Okay, that makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarification. My hesitation to just take the answer and run wasn't so much succinctness as that it was open to interpretation.