We're running mobile apps and desktop, so I want the commenting experience to be similar on both platforms. Currently mobile doesn't allow nested lists, hence the question.
On desktop, I designed a nested list system to work up to 3 levels deep, which only allows replying to the top 2 levels. Not ideal.
On realizing that mobile interface is severely limited, I'm thinking about redesigning it to a single-level list that identifies child comments and somehow adds left margin spacing to 'nest' them visually. I'm using a Closure table in my database to log the parent/child relationships separate from the comments themselves.
I understand that I won't be able to have in-line replies, but I'll probably use the one main comment input and scroll users back up to it (and have a text area that shows the comment they're replying to) to reply to threads.
Any input / thoughts?