IMO, a chronological view breaks down when you reach the critical mass that is reddit. Anything that hits the front page is going to have hundreds of top-level comments. You'll have tons of garbage to sift through.
But if you want it, reddit DOES let you sort the tree in chronological order.
> with the ability to quote previous posts.
What do you mean? You can do this by just copy/pasting.
Thinking back to phpBB or Vbulletin, where it'll nest the quote inside your post usually in a text box. I think reddit can do something similar but I don't know how.
Compare that to the admittedly clumsy method of c/p and lead with a '>' here on HN.
HN is the exception, thanks to the mature and thoughtful discussions. Notably, it is absent the hordes of "r/unexpected_letterkenny????!!?!?!" and the like that really grind my gears.
Give me threaded discussion that is chronological, with the ability to quote previous posts.
I am so tired of the top several comment trees on reddit being the latest hivemind digested and regurgitated funny reply.