I can't find the post in beta mods...but I assume the extra queries are because you have to resolve the U_Number into U_Username, so the username is visible. I think you could add a column to the posts table which keeps a record of who you're replying to, that way you can pick it up in the query to get the post, and you can drop it in the query to add the post. It wouldn't work with older posts, but you could also resolve the u_number to u_username IF the new column is blank. It would cut down on extra queries for new posts, but still be backwards compatable.
