It turns out there's a way to have the best of both worlds, and the key is in Google+ Comments. You have probably noticed that blog comments have two levels: the first level ones are actually Google+ posts with a link to the blog post, and the second level ones are actually Google+ comments.
Here's an article in Blogger's official blog. It has a level 1 comment with a couple nested comments inside it.
But when we visit Google+ we discover it's just a Google+ post with the link, and a couple comments inside. The point here is that a post and a comment can be basically the same thing. But if we look at them closely we se that comments are second-class citizens in Google+:
Now, what if you could click the second link to be taken to +Phil Oakley's comment? What if clicking it took you here?
The basic idea is that a comment is really a post pointing to another post and therefore it can be plus oned, shared and yes, replied to. You can see in the mockup how I'm writing a reply to Phil's comment, thus branching the conversation. My reply would also be a post and could in turn be replied to, and the conversation on +Anuj Ahooja's original post would remain simple because my reply, being off-topic and only related to Phil's comment, would not appear there.
The idea is, let's suppose I read Anuj's post and its comments, and I have something to say. If I feel that it's related to what Anuj said I can just use the "Add a comment" box and be done with it. But if it only relates to what Phil said I can open his post and write my comment there, or use a "Go off-topic" button:
Either I would keep Anuj's simple and free of unrelated comments while giving me the possibility to expand on Phil's idea and discuss our thoughts:
And, of course, this would allow anyone to go off-topic on my comment without bothering Phil's commenters.
Would you like to have something like this? Do you see any problems with it? Don't forget to leave a comment!
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