The above is true, for those of us that are here every day (more or less). I do not think it is true for those who visit less frequently, or for new users. A thread with 350 replies is not easy to deal with for those people.
So... Do we behave in ways that are convenient for our regulars, but difficult for newcomers/less regular visitors? Are we exclusive, or inclusive?
Also - there is currently s a limit to replies in a thread - 1,500 posts. We could change that, or even disable it.
At the extreme (which I'm not suggesting seriously, but considering extreme cases can shed light on arguments about less-extreme approaches), we would have just a single thread, with all discussions intermingled - your basic blog with an "open thread." But philliesphans is not a blog. Is that what we want it to be?