There is also a third initiation step involving the commenting system, but I'm not going to say what it is, because the rule is: if you must ask, you're not ready for it :).

Are you suggesting there's actually a way?

I'm suggesting that there are numerous ways around some of the limitations of this site, such as the lack of reply notification or inability to reply quickly in a chain of many quick replies in a thread. Sometimes it's an escape hatch built into the site, other times someone has already decided to solve the problem and share. If all else fails, you can try to design your own solution.

The hacker ethos invites careful observation and exploration mixed with out of the box thinking. Whether this site purposefully aims for that or accidentally encourages it is irrelevant.

Try using your preferred web search engine for hn replies.

http://www.hnreplies.com/ - maintained by user https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=dangrossman