Something needs to be done about the default comment ordering or subthread collapsing ability on HN. I understand I can easily collapse a comment’s replies with a single tap in the correct tiny location, but that isn’t enough. I became increasingly fatigued as I scrolled down seeing reply after reply to the top comment all arguing over the definition of “bricked”, assuming that surely at any moment I’d reach the bottom of the subthread and be able to move on to read something more useful. Finally I became frustrated enough to scroll to the top and collapse the parent comment, and that worked this time, but the issue is that it isn’t always the top comment on the page you want to collapse, so it becomes a blind hunt for the correct comment to collapse. You probably won’t remember the exact indentation depth of the comment you need to collapse so you’re stuck deciding whether to waste time looking for it or tough out trying to scroll to the bottom of the subthread (while continuously getting excited then disappointed every time the indentation shifts left and you’re tricked into thinking you’ve finally reached the end). It’s a daily annoyance but I’m not sure what could remedy it.

Also I’ve read that submissions with too much early comment activity get removed automatically for seemingly being too controversial. If so then maybe that rule should apply to comments as well. Controversial comments could automatically sink lower despite upvote count, as well as older comments.