So as not to have to withstand the brunt of multiple downvotes from the same people, I have added responses in the main thread

Then you are going to get downvotes from other people (me, for example). Replying in your main node will make it difficult for everyone to follow the conversation and, which is worse, to contribute to it. If you want to avoid being downvoted, there are better ways to do it, like posting as anonymonk (not that I'm recommending it) (Update: OP removed the replies and posted additional nodes so this no longer applies).

FWIW, I use tabs yet. I plan to switch to spaces Real Soon Now.