@ping Thanks. That's a very interesting implementation. One (obvious) observation is that it doesn't show the overall timeline of the replies, only those within a branch.

Perhaps a chronological view with the ability to determine the threads using a separate/parallel indicator could go some way to addressing the issues. For example, an adaptation of the the branching visualisations in git such as shown here could work: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3299514/can-i-get-git-style-branch-visualisations-from-team-foundation-server-tfs. In addition there could be functionality such as the ability to click on a comment to highlight it and have all other comments in the thread, past and future, automatically highlighted.