Reply to conversation instead of replying to posts

It would be nice to select which posts my replies are addressing and then look at the thread chronologically, like a normal conversation. This way you can respond to the topic without the necessity of clicking on the individual reply button before typing your response. Perhaps below the replies, the stats could also include quick links to the connected responses. That would recover some of the current topic and reply structures features, while keeping the threads sequential.

Another thing that I'm dying for is a way to create a new topic from a reply that I'm currently typing.
Like a "reply options" button with "create topic from reply" and "reply to which posts?" as selectable features. This would provide great conversational continuity throughout the site, while maintaining intuitive ways to access all of the organization and relevance features that keep Satisfaction resourceful.