*"... it would be interesting to see what the conversation would be like when se...

"... it would be interesting to see what the conversation would be like when segmented as such. ..."

You already can. Just randomly pick a low item id, ie: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20111 and follow up the comments to the article head ie: "How to Build a Web 2.0 Dating Site in 66.5 Man-Hours " http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19988

The sig/noise was different, fewer higher qual comments.