: -When I go to write a reply, I'm presented with this staggeringly large text
: box. It's great, like a sandbox for the writer. The only problem is, you
: have to click on the first line or the text box won't realize that you
: want to write sweet love letters to the English language within its
: borders. I actually measured, and about 1/24th of the area responds to
: your click.

What browser are you using? Might be a css/cursor issue. In FF, you can click on the rest of the box, even though the cursor is 'default', and the focus is put to the first line for typing. Perhaps the base CSS of the entire box should be set to 'text', since the function of clicking anywhere on it is the same.