> I think the majority of commenters only read the title.

I've lost count of how many times this has happened.

In one case, I went through and read several dozen comments on an article. No exaggeration: all commenters (100%) said nothing whatsoever about the article's text. They were all just holding forth on their own opinions and experiences related to the headline.

I've gotta ask : How do you read these quickly ? It'd take me so much time to read even half of the articles from threads I'm somewhat interested in, I can't help but feel that trying to get the gist of it by reading the comments is the most efficient way for me. Well, it would've been, if the people commenting actually read the article.

Maybe if the article was right here instead of a click away, more people would read it.

I don't think so.

Just look at YouTube, lots of people comment on videos without actually watching the video despite it being right there.

I read the article, doesn’t mean I can’t leave an anecdote and reiterate the same point.