I really,really,REALLY hate this latest update. Somebody screwed up and "fixed" something that wasn't broke.
Why would you "hate" this feature?
If you don't like it, don't use it.
I happen to like the "view replies" (to a specific reply) feature.
If any thing, I don't use it much strictly out of habit -- having become so accustomed to the "old way" the forum worked, I still load the whole thread and scroll through all the replies, forgettining that I can look at specific replies only.