part of the GDPR law is the intent of the information you are storing, not the method. Cookie is just a technology. If you track your users using a DB it still applies and you need consent if the tracking is not necessary

I can't reply to the reply to this for some reason, but it's worth noting that GDPR and the cookie law are different, though related.

For very recent comments, click on the timestamp to get the single comment view and be able to reply.

(I had to do it here too.)

You folks might just be time limited on the reply - HN puts some brakes on "too fast" commenting

See my profile if you want, that was my first comment in hours. I think it is that sort of brake, (prevents heated discussions veing quite so quick-fire) but it's not on the user, it's on everyone for <'5 [or something] minutes ago' comments; drcongo's happened to be '0 minutes ago' when I loaded the page, so I clicked on it to reply.

Oh! Useful tip, thanks!