Change the function of the reply button, so those who reply are aware of all prior replies

[larryedwards]

Pitch

For a post in a timeline, the reply button may indicate no prior replies, 1 prior reply or 1+ prior replies. If zero or 1 is indicated there may actually be MANY replies scattered across the fediverse, but there is no way of knowing before instantly reply. Even if 1+ is indicated, it is not intuitive how to view all the replies. Even clicking on the post's content is unhelpful for showing the extent of replies that have been made.

A fix: When clicked, the reply button should not directly activate the reply editing window. Instead, it should Expand the post - preferably in a new browser tab that becomes active (e.g. I'm using mastodon in a browser, in non-advance mode), so that the full thread becomes visible before the user writes a reply. The edit window would become active in that browser tab, but not in the tab that has the timeline feed. This would force awareness of the existing thread before replying.

Motivation

This will help eliminate wild replies that are unaware of the actual extent of a thread, and which are burdensome for everyone on thread and don't fit into the conversation well.