--- comment.module.4.7.5	2007-01-03 16:56:58.000000000 -0500
+++ comment.module	2007-01-05 14:17:08.000000000 -0500
@@ -585,11 +585,21 @@ function comment_save($edit) {
           // by retrieving the maximum thread level.
           $max = db_result(db_query('SELECT MAX(thread) FROM {comments} WHERE nid = %d', $edit['nid']));
 
-          // Strip the "/" from the end of the thread.
-          $max = rtrim($max, '/');
+          if($max == '')
+          {
+            $thread = int2vancode(0) . '/';
+          } 
+          else {
+            // Strip the "/" from the end of the thread.
+            $max = rtrim($max, '/');
 
-          // Finally, build the thread field for this new comment.
-          $thread = int2vancode(vancode2int($max) + 1) .'/';
+            // We need to get the value at the correct depth.
+            $parts = explode('.', $max);
+            $firstsegment = $parts[0];
+
+            // Finally, build the thread field for this new comment.
+            $thread = int2vancode(vancode2int($firstsegment) + 1) .'/';
+          }
         }
         else {
           // This is comment with a parent comment: we increase