I'm talking about top level comments, which are essentially replies to the linked article itself; I assume you are too. If you're talking about replies to comments, I more or less agree with you.
But to me, if a top level comment doesn't address a single thing in the parent article, it may not be necessary to post it in a thread about that article in the first place. Occasionally I see interesting, novel comments by people who probably haven't read the article, but the most common case is that I see tired retreads of ongoing culture wars, or warmed-over, extremely basic opinions. It's much more interesting to me when HN sometimes engages with a particular text rather than just opening the window and lets the rest of the (godforsaken) internet fly in.
Or, that the commenter gives an opinion about something which is directly addressed in the article. Or, that the commenter has clearly misunderstood the point of the article because they've only read the headline, so they are wasting time arguing about something totally unrelated to it.
But to me, if a top level comment doesn't address a single thing in the parent article, it may not be necessary to post it in a thread about that article in the first place. Occasionally I see interesting, novel comments by people who probably haven't read the article, but the most common case is that I see tired retreads of ongoing culture wars, or warmed-over, extremely basic opinions. It's much more interesting to me when HN sometimes engages with a particular text rather than just opening the window and lets the rest of the (godforsaken) internet fly in.
Or, that the commenter gives an opinion about something which is directly addressed in the article. Or, that the commenter has clearly misunderstood the point of the article because they've only read the headline, so they are wasting time arguing about something totally unrelated to it.