Another option would be heading-based voting, i.e. if you use headings in your comments, each one of those could become votable, or be treated internally as separate comments to vote on and reply to.
However, one problem with all such approaches (besides the big issue of increased UI complexity, of course) is that they’re kind of incompatible with the ability to edit one’s own comments—what if someone votes on a block quote or heading in you comment, and then you edit that part, or remove it altogether?
What about a feature where you can mark block quotes in your own comment with ‘strong agree’, ‘weak agree’, ‘weak disagree’, or ‘strong disagree’?
Being able to optionally add agree/disagree voting UI to block quotes sounds sweet.
Another option would be heading-based voting, i.e. if you use headings in your comments, each one of those could become votable, or be treated internally as separate comments to vote on and reply to.
However, one problem with all such approaches (besides the big issue of increased UI complexity, of course) is that they’re kind of incompatible with the ability to edit one’s own comments—what if someone votes on a block quote or heading in you comment, and then you edit that part, or remove it altogether?