In a long topic, what value does it give you?
We have found that the vast majority of users either link to a single post or scroll downwards. For mega topics, we have a summarize option that shows the "best of."
Well they don't have any choice do they :D
I think that the summary tool of discourse is fantastic. So are the membership management tools/spam tools. A generation above phpBB. Just to balance out the criticism.
But the infinite scrolling is a deal-breaker (for me).
Question: why do you assume that an end user's lack of ability to articulate a need negates it?