It is for the same rationale that the uncomfortably tiny font size of HN makes sense; only from this zoomed-out perspective can you feel the shape and texture of the discussion, instead of being overflowed and taken away by the walls of texts.
I’ve been struggling to find an efficient way to read Hacker News and now it seems to me the best way is to skim thru threads and be aware of how the topic develop around (and from) the original linked-to article, but not to get too much into comments, since the most valuable thing you can get from HN is what are being thought by hackers currently rather than what their thoughts are.
Please be advised that this post was written or last updated a while ago and may therefore contain outdated information or opinions I no longer hold.
请知悉本文自写作或上次更新已届相当时限，或包含过时信息及观点。