A first attempt at sorting 

    sort_key     |                  text
-----------------+----------------------------------------
  0019 0022 0012 | Top response to top reply
  0019 0022 0001 | Meh response to top reply
  0019 0022      | Top reply to top comment
  0019 0006      | Earliest reply to top comment
  0019           | Top comment
  0003 0005      | Reply to less highly rated comment
  0003           | Less highly rated comment
  0000           | Crap comment that nobody wants to read