the fact that the only way to reply to a node is to view its parent

My experience is different, the "Offer your reply" link is always on the node itself, while the "reply" links are on the parent (etc.) nodes. Maybe this is a theme or browser rendering issue? I am using the standard theme.

In reply to Re: "Offer your reply" link on node page by Happy-the-monk
in thread "Offer your reply" link on node page by Stevie-O

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