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> E.g. if headline is about X but in the vicinity of Y the thread gets filled with generic comments about Y that have nothing to do with X

Exactly! I created an ASK HN a while back on this. It received a lot of feedback. It appears many long-time HN readers are tired of it.

You can see it here; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27287700

It’s sort of like “topic drift” except that it’s closer to the topic, broadly defined. (Ironically, this side conversation is also topic drift, of the meta variety.)

I just call it appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Bike-shedding isn't binary, it's a continuum. Shallow discussions are a result of audience size and loss of focus.