I'll try to explain. In the old forum you could click on a feature, I think it was at the bottom of the forum list that displayed the post under a thread with lines going from the post to the particular post subject that was being responded to. When you clicked to reply to a another post in a thread, the lines would indicate which post within that thread you were responding too. Maybe I interpreted its function wrongly but thats how it seemed to work to me. In this new format you can click on " reply " to any given post in a thread, which I would think means you are replying to that specific post ( comments ). Most times its clear by the posters comments who they are responding too, but sometimes its not that clear.