Just wanted to add to this discussion: I spent 20 minutes looking for “Reply as a linked topic” and never found it. It was only because of this thread that I located it.
If you want a feature to be used, you make it visible to your users. Having a non-default option to reply as a linked topic should be part of the Reply UI, visible to all on every reply.
Oof, I do see a lot of those “No!” decisions in many support forums… 
To some degree, it may always come down to more experienced folks and staff tidying things up.
I wonder if the “reply as linked topic” option could be made more obvious, as in Linca’s suggestion above, but only at a designated trust level. It might just confuse the average drive-by help-seeker – but if it appeared for, say, TL2 users, they might see the utility and know when to use it.
I’m physically recoiling at all those AI-generated titles. They’re so… AI. I’d assume the content behind any of those headlines would be slop as well. Please, powers that be, reserve titling as an expression of humanity.
Another example of how linked topics could be used to allow for the natural flow of conversation.
I totally agree about the AI generated titles. What seemed acceptable to me in 2023 now triggers a visceral reaction. I think that’s a fairly common reaction to LLM generated text.