In almost every context in Ripcord where I write a message, I do so in the short but wide text field at the bottom of the main window. That includes, among other things, replying in an existing thread and starting a new direct message. But when I start a new thread, I have to write the message in a narrow but tall text box in its own dialog. This feels a bit out of place.

I'd prefer if Reply and Start Thread navigated the window to an empty thread view, similar to clicking on an existing thread.

You're right, it's bad. I think the best solution might be to use the existing input box, like how editing works. (This is how replying in Discord works, which I added more recently.)