Some ability to merge discussions has previously been discussed, but lots of people on HN think it's not a problem.

Here are a few times it's been mentioned:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=122751

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2766949

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2826798

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3018533

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3657234

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5382906

Here's a poll asking what people think:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2822041

Here's a submission from me asking for exactly this feature, with it's associated discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3349371

Here's a counter viewpoint from someone I generally respect, but who disagrees strongly with me on this topic:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3357125

Well played.

well it clearly is a problem. I'm not clicking each link in that.

Seeing a grouped list of links all at once is much more convenient than seeing (or missing, most likely) each link individually over the course of a few months.