Currently, there does not appear to be any way to get to a linked URL without first opening up the kbin comments page for a thread.
This doubles the work a user has to do in order to reach the linked URL, and also increases the load on kbin since users are loading twice as many kbin pages as they otherwise might.
Each thread listing already has a “Comments” link that brings you to the kbin page for that thread. So the main title should link directly to the linked URL.
I think the title opening the thread is good. IMO for image posts the best behavior would be that the thumbnail opens the media preview. For site links I would go with the thumbnail opening the link, and replacing the thumbnail with a large arrow if there is no image.
Would be great if this was a setting! That way, people could choose whatever they prefer. I would enable it myself.
Coming from Apollo my first thought was to click a thumbnail to view an image directly and click the title to view the comments. Now I’ve only viewed the mobile site because it was being hugged to death every time I tried to view it from a computer, but without there being a separate element you can click on to go directly to content I see the title being the next logical thing to act as a way of viewing content directly.
On wykop.pl you click a small link, and he is direct link. Maybe this is a solution?
You could do that. However, since we already have a “Comments” link, it makes more sense to have the title go to the linked URL. However, I would be happy with anything going directly to the linked URL right now. :)
What I don’t understand is why @ernest doesn’t rush this fix because it would literally cut his server load in half, which I imagine would be of great value to him.