Counting rules for comments count

The self-titled 'Comments' count, which you see once you have entered a post does not reflect activity on that post. I suggest that it should count: comments on the original post + replies to those comments.    At the moment you see the total (using the above counting rule) before you enter - fair enough.  Once you have entered a post you see only a count of comments on the original post.  I don't think that this second count serves any purpose at all.  There are two problems with this: (i) the count of comments on the post does not reflect actual activity - the point of these counts is to identify the volume of activity; (ii) inconsistent counting rules