Highlighting the specific passage and responding to it is superior to threads imo as you, as the person responding/reacting to something can specifically mark what you are responding to.
I do agree with nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc that the character constraints tends to sharpen your thinking to be more precise.
the one obvious caveat is the reduction in nuance; I wonder if part of the polarization and strawmanning we've seen in the past decades is partly due to this constraint.
I wouldn't say it's superior in general. Threads are different from highlights. There is a reason why they evolved, and I'd say it's not purely because of limitation.
I like to think of them as paragraphs. And when sharing media, it's almost like a slideshow. Threads are useful imho and different from blog posts.
It goes without saying that I'm a fan of highlighter (understatement of the century). In case one of the onlookers doesn't know, I wrote this blog post a while ago:
https://dergigi.com/2023/04/04/purple-text-orange-highlights/
the origin article that resulted in the creation of nostr:npub1w0rthyjyp2f5gful0gm2500pwyxfrx93a85289xdz0sd6hyef33sh2cu4x
