So all of my argument is invalid? Explain why? Oh is it because you don't agree with it...Oh sorry.

The "sort by" option allows for a wider variation of thread viewing. In my case, I prefer to see all new topics at the top as they are created so I can reply to them, I don't want to see topics that are weeks old, so I use "Latest" and "Today" to sort my feed. It's convenient. If you only want to see popular threads then use the popular filter. "The longer it hasn't had a new comment the older the thread gets and moves to the bottom"; this hasn't been removed. It's clearly evident in the "latest" filter. "Latest" hinting that the newest and most active threads appear at the top. And the reply button? There's nothing wrong with it. It's a helpful organizer which, well, organizes replies. Remember in the old Bungie.net, if you wanted to reply to a thread's comment you had to quote the person in an entirely new thread comment? And you weren't even notified if someone quoted you to reply? Why do you want the site to go back to the Stone Age?

You know what forget the reply button. The thing I hate about the sort by option is because it prevents most of the threads from becoming popular. Most people wouldn't bother changing the option to latest.

There are already threads with hundreds of comments. How do you think they got popular? You can't just make a thread and hope for an instant popularity boost. Moth of the really popular threads now are coincident with something relevant to disputed topics, something that is out of the ordinary or something that people actually want to discuss. Here all I see is you voicing your disapproval. You don't have alternatives or anything interesting here, it's jus a few paragraphs of what you don't like, And I doubt many people will want to read about that, so you shouldn't be expecting all if your threads to have massive culminations of comments. The other factorial is, as you said, that people may not care to change their sort options. That's their decision and all you can do is come up with a thread that intrigues people's interest if you want it at the top..