The second toplevel comment ("this sounds suspicious") and its replies were mostly what I was referring to. The original author had to show up and defend himse

The second toplevel comment ("this sounds suspicious") and its replies were mostly what I was referring to. The original author had to show up and defend himself, something that would rightly terrify many newbies. Comments near the top are exponentially more representative, both because of upvotes and because of the number of replies they engender. Although it's interesting that a toplevel-only view results in a much more positive outlook. I wonder if I could write an extension to hide all replies by default to see what various threads would look like.