Here's what can happen with missing #Mastodon replies, keeping in mind that there isn't even an indication that replies might be missing:
A: I would never vote for Trump.
B: Would you vote for George Takei?
C: Absolutely I would vote for him!
(User D doesn't see B's reply, and assumes C is enthusiastic about voting for Trump.)
And so on.
When does this happen?
`inReplyTo` just links to the immediately prior message, so if your instance didn't get B, it has no way to link A and C. Do instances seriously implement user-level blocks/mutes by doing something like this in the UI, or am I missing some other situation when this behaviour would make some sense?