No, this is the point i am making. Apple intentionally changed the shade as opposed to the parent comment claiming it was badly designed from the start (before blue bubbles).
Reddit used to be like that too, but those people gravitate to the community eventually. I think best we can do is recognize the behaviour early and down vote it on sight.
The thing about comment chains is you can collapse them so don't see anything wrong. Let people have their fun and sense of connection with strangers on the internet.
Its an additional option for those who prefer a native app. Do you have an issue with it?