Most submissions are probably good but I guess only a small percentage of users click the new link, and then they can only read a small percentage of submissions and up vote only an even smaller percentage of those. It would be easy for a great submission to fall through the cracks.
I'm about half and half. I look for the submitter, if they usually submit good stuff, or if I recognize the source I'll usually click straight to the article. Otherwise I just read the comments.
Used to be that both Japanese and Koreans preferred their products with complex feature sets - Apple are notable for what they leave out - perhaps this signals a change of heart for Japanese consumers?