I don't think it's confusing, because there's a clear message saying "Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here". I think that hints you that the depth can be changed somehow, and note that "chosen depth" also links to the settings page to change the depth. I think it's also obvious that you can click on the titles of replies to show them and their descendants (slashdot works the same way).

Also, though this doesn't apply to those shallow threads cut by the default view depth, I think that very deep threads are usually flamewars (not trolls, mind you). Just look at how those threads are mostly not branching, just alternating replies between two monks.

In reply to Re: Default depth for replies by ambrus
in thread Default depth for replies by igelkott

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