You overthink this. Participating in HN is in no way like democratic voting. And sometimes it is my (or yours) comment that is the problem.
Let's not pretend that 90% of HN comments are world-changing. Maybe you are different, but a lot of my would-be comments are knee-jerk reactions that won't actually bring anything substantial to the discussion. Often in political comment chains. Yes, I feel I'm right, but it's still probably not worth posting. I really think that sometimes stopping before posting is better for everyone involved.
I also have well thought comments, where I share my thoughts on things I'm an expert in. I do post them. But a lot of the comments is not really that valuable.
>comments I spent literal hours on[2]
It may make you feel better that I saw both of your posts before (I may spend too much time on HN). They are good, though a bit verbose - maybe this intimidates people. But in this case I agree with GP - if I was spending literal hours responding to comments here I should definitely stop myself.
Let's not pretend that 90% of HN comments are world-changing. Maybe you are different, but a lot of my would-be comments are knee-jerk reactions that won't actually bring anything substantial to the discussion. Often in political comment chains. Yes, I feel I'm right, but it's still probably not worth posting. I really think that sometimes stopping before posting is better for everyone involved.
I also have well thought comments, where I share my thoughts on things I'm an expert in. I do post them. But a lot of the comments is not really that valuable.
>comments I spent literal hours on[2]
It may make you feel better that I saw both of your posts before (I may spend too much time on HN). They are good, though a bit verbose - maybe this intimidates people. But in this case I agree with GP - if I was spending literal hours responding to comments here I should definitely stop myself.