@assbach @Gargron your personal comment in the thread is what is seen by your followers. Depending on their client they may or may not have to click through to see parent context.
Your contribution is your commentary or boost.
There are times one doesn't want to contribute to a conversation, yet comment on it often negatively. The friction to doing that is a deliberate design decision.
In your followers timeline, if you Boost/reblog then comment they will appear in chronological order.