Depth limit of threaded/hybrid mode

[Loriel]

When viewing posts in threaded or hybrid mode, the thread view (both the tree display and the actual list of posts) arbitrarily cuts off at a certain depth. That is pretty annoying because it makes it stupidly cumbersome to follow linear conversations, as opposed to flat, everyone-is-an-idiot-and-responds-to-the-OP threads.

I do not see what the depth limit is good for, the amount of posts per page is still limited like in linear mode so it is not like viewing a huge thread should necessarily kill the server.

Is there anything I am missing or is this a pointless misfeature that could easily be fixed?