Good point. That might be a change worth making.
I think in part that its importance depends on whether you're viewing threads in "flat" format or "threaded" format. If you're looking at things in flat format, it doesn't matter much. If you're viewing in threaded format, it gets to be a real mess. I've just changed my preferences to threaded just to see how things go.
Of course, the other problem (in my view) is people replying to the original poster without reading the full set of responses. That might just be me, though. 
Don
"Don't fear moving slowly forward ... fear standing still" - Kathleen Harris
"Last is just the slowest winner." - C. Hunter Boyd