I used to do such reading and commenting in the evenings. Never really had much problem with wondering if they've answered to me now, since I had a list of thin

I used to do such reading and commenting in the evenings. Never really had much problem with wondering if they've answered to me now, since I had a list of things to read and then I'd get sleepy and not comment on anything more. Sometimes I'd get an urge to check in the morning or midday, but that wasn't the time. The obvious downside was that I often stayed up too late, and ended up amassing bookmarks. I'd say it was still better than my current schedule, where I read some comments whenever I'm not doing anything else, like in the mornings, and then intermittently throughout the day. In light of that, I'd suggest you try reading HN only in the evenings, unless you already have something else to fill that time (like, say, The Simpsons). Topic churn will be a problem, but perhaps there the cure will be in not seeing the problem.