I know a lot of good folks looked at that and, having worked with Adjacency Lists where both the child and parent IDs are numeric, might wonder why you even brought this up as an EAV. I have to admit, even I don't understand why you brought this up as an EAV.
It was because I've seen people try and do everthing in the EAV design and not take a step back and think "hang on, perhaps hierachal concerns are best handled outside of the EAV".
My personal experience is that when someone comes up with these designs they become evangelical about them to the point of insanity. Their treatment of disenters would have made Torquemada a bit queasy. There needs to be a sense of perspective and an understanding that it is a tool not the tool.