Why do I have to go back to page 1 of a thread to reply to the OP rather than reply to a commenter?

[grilled]

I'm on page 13 of this 16-page thread.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Feedback-Needed-Using-eBay-s-Product-Catalog/td-p/27363205/page...

If I have an idea and want to start a new comment that isn't in response to one of the previous commenters, why isn't there a link on every page of the thread to do so?

Must I navigate back to Page 1 and wait for it to load then find the first post Reply button and use that?

Why isn't there a Reply OP link at the top and bottom of  every page? 

[*coins]

Um...the first page loaded in about 5 seconds for me. Is it slower for you? I don't see why you can't just go to page 1 to reply.

[grilled]

Because it's an extra step.  Forums have had Reply OP links on every page for decades.  It should be there.

And these forum pages are very slow to load.  Bloated.