Totally agree. Just noticed it 10 minutes ago and my first gut reaction response was:
WHY!!!?
What the heck is the point of people posting 140 character comments that scroll alongside the main threads? Is it not the whole point of MN to put coments on threads so people can correspond and debate and reply in an open forum.
While I am at it, another thing that annoys me is the increasing sense that there is a set of parralel private conversations being posted on Facebook alongside threads. The little side comments on a thread about what someone has said on Facebook are very annoying.
I joined just after Moldiegate and now understand why it annoyed so may people.