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I imagine a lot of people don't register an account until they feel the need to comment on something. I had browsed HN for a long time before I decided to register and the only reason I did register was so I could reply to someones comment. This is of course anecdotal but its easy to imagine the same case for many people.

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Yeah. The main attraction of HN is the links. Comments are usually nice to read, but I rarely have much to add to the discussion.

For me it's at least 50/50. Maybe not even--the links really are just important as they create discussion on a given topic.

I really, really enjoy the comments on this site.

Indeed, the only point of the links for me is that they generate worthwhile discussion. (Which is why I tend to flag political links and such that have been proven to not generate worthwhile discussions, whether or not the article itself is worthwhile.)

Especially because HN shows no summary or anything of the linked article: I'm not going to click on a link if the only information about it that I have is an (often purposefully) abstruse title and a domain name. Once there are a few comments that give me an actual impression of what the article is going to be, then maybe I'll go back and actually read it.

I do love the comments, but I rarely have anything to add, so I don't really need an account. :)

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