Update: several of you have said the same thing in response to this. Namely, that you don't know each other is talking because of the way Mastodon/ActivityPub is federating replies. That's a good point and doesn't change the perception of the OP.
Maybe that contributes to folks feeling dogpiled on this platform? Sounds like a bug that needs some level of working out.
(I am not asking for opinions here on whether this is feasible)