The comments thread is physically easier to read (no ads, banners, interference with scroll, carousels, clickbait sidebar) and gets to the point much quicker. And if people are rehashing a tired argument in the comments then I can skip the topic entirely.

The linked article itself is also allowing others to influence your judgement and opinion, especially if it's a news article.

Every link on this site is only here because others have submitted and upvoted them, so everyone here is being influenced. That's the whole point of the site - having a community choose what's worth reading.

Or maybe it's that comments: a) load fast b) are always text c) don't include ads or videos d) are somewhat uniformly formatted and relatively easy to parse e) often include enough of a summary to make a quick decision about a link

There are usually lots of valuable features contained in comments that are quick/easy to use.

I could see that perspective, but I prefer to exercise my judgment on the comments.

It's a compromise for time and also a small measure against tab-explosions.

I think one could argue that the majority of the "articles" or "posts" on HN are merely the opinions of their authors anyway. There are a few based in fact, or purely fact, or real "News", but a lot of times, they are just asides, or general ramblings of another person on the net - then there are the comments here that add real value to the piece.