Ask HN: Why do we use depth first search on comment threads in HN? (opens in new tab)

When I read the comments on a HN post I generally want to get a sense for how the community is reacting to the content and whether I missed any interesting implications. However, almost always I have to scroll through a long comment thread about one response before seeing another separate response. Is there a setting for this or a reason I'm overlooking that HN shows comments this way?