The problem with "by top score" is it would itself influence the scoring, even if only some people used it. The oldest comments would stay at the top of such a list, because they get seen more and thus have more opportunities for upvotes, creating a self-sustaining cycle. You always need a time counterweight.

That would be nice. And also a way to wrap all comments that are replies to first-level comments so that we can see all these and only reaf discussions on projects that interest us.

What do you mean by 'wrap'?

Sorry, it may not be the right word. I mean the effect that clicking on the little "[-]" does. A way to automatically clic this for all second-level comments, so that only first-level comments that directly answer the "Ask HN" appear.

Got it. I think this would be useful. But where in the UI would we put all these options? This is my main concern.

If you find a place for comments sorting options (what my parent comment initially suggested), it could go there too (it's also related to comments display settings).

Maybe a line between the "add comment" button and the first displayed comment?

Have made a site out of links collected from this page. Check it out https://born-out-of-covid.f22labs.com/

Planning to add sorting and voting (If this interests people)

It's on the list to consider.

Let me know if you like the site, we can put it out in a proper domain and add submissions, sorting etc.