That makes sense for overall flow. But I find myself always clicking that “# Replies” button, reading the responses then getting lost/confused when the same text is repeated again further down the chain. It helps when people use quotes in their response but not everyone does that.
So I would say I agree that I think the “# replies” part should be removed and rely on the indicators added to the replies themselves, if you needed to see what the person is responding to. That seems to fit with the flow all the way down idea better of this flat style design imho.
Disclosure: I’m an alien who doesn’t read Reddit or Slashdot or any other forum really, so the flat design was really confusing at first. I’m getting used to it though.
