Original Post Formatting

Why are original posts so substantially different from comments on those posts? I'm not crazy about the threaded view to begin with and I'm still crossing my fingers for a chronological view that displays the parent/child post relationship using a setup more similar to classic quoting behavior, but even without that adjustment, I'm not sure what's served by treating initial posts so differently from replies.

Right now they're strongly segregated and have a sort of "article/comment" feel to them, particularly with the direct response box underneath the initial post in each thread. I'm curious both what the design impetus is behind that. Does the original post in each thread need to have that much focus, given how much conversations change over time?

I'm also curious if other users are finding the formatting beneficial. Does it keep conversation more focused? Is there some benefit when examining new posts in a thread exclusively?

In particular, I think it hurts discussion once initial posts hit essay level size (simply because it creates more space that needs to be scrolled through consistently) and it detracts from the value of replies. I'd like to see a formatting option that puts more emphasis on each individual post. Right now they tend to blend together: it takes more effort for me to assign each post a new mental voice and sort out who's "talking" at any given point in time.