> But I think discouraging this slightly leans behaviour towards snark vs not.
who are you thanking? the mechanics of HN means that a uesr would have to actively search around for a response, so odds are your thanks simply goes the ether.
>>johnny+(OP)
I partially "solved" this by bookmarking the page showing my most recent comments and their replies so I can skim it before going to the front-page. I understand the reasoning behind the functionality but there is a lot of knowledge in replies so I wouldn't want to be without it.