I always hesitate - some people hate it, others appreciate it. I think it's worth cross-connecting previous conversations, because I see the HN discussions as a resource. Others seem to think it should all be ephemeral and throw-away.
Having said all that, I hope this gets some new discussion.
The experiential difference of seeing the contextualization you put in the top-level post here, and just seeing a list of links (like you used to do) is huge. This way feels friendly like being invited into a larger conversation. A "sterile" list of previous discussion feels a little too much like "OMG repost".
I can't speak for others - but I think you hit the sweet spot of how to do the cross-connecting.