Feed Thread Question: Identifying Comment Feeds

["Roger B." <rogben@xxxxxxxxx>]

James & Company: Is there any chance of seeing something added to the
spec that could identify a feed or entry as a subordinate comment,
rather than simply a reply?

Here are the situations I'm facing during test implementation... Entry
A is a blog posting, Entry B is a comment posted in response to Entry
A, and Entry C is a third-party blog posting that claims to be a reply
to Entry A.

(1) I consume Entry A, and then Entry B. I note Entry B's in-reply-to
id/ref, see that it matches Entry A, and thread the two together. All
is well.

(2) I consume Entry A, and then Entry C. I note Entry C's in-reply-to
id/ref, see that it matches Entry A, and thread the two together. All
is well.

(3) I consume Entry C, and then Entry A. Since Entry A did not yet
exist when I processed Entry C, I create new threads for both Entry C
and Entry A. All is (basically) well.

Here's where we get into trouble...

(4) I consume Entry B, and then Entry A. Since Entry A did not yet
exist when I processed Entry B, I create new threads for both of them.
Unfortunately, Entry B was never meant to stand alone in any real
sense, unlike Entry C.

If Entry B had a way to clearly convey that it needs Entry A to make
any sense, I could just ignore it until Entry A shows up. Absent such
a mechanism, I can't ignore anything, because for all I know, Entry B
is just like Entry C.

I guess what I'm looking for is an @isrealparent attribute on
in-reply-to. (Bad name, I know.) Just something that allows the
replying entry to assert a closer relationship to the other resource.

--
Roger Benningfield