The assumption that the first thing you should do is read the article has never been backed up by any sort of logic. Doing so means that you must trust the metr

The assumption that the first thing you should do is read the article has never been backed up by any sort of logic. Doing so means that you must trust the metric that is the HN scoring system. A system that can easily be gamed by bots and fake users. As this is an unreliable metric, your behavior is exactly what we should prefer. You rely on the personal accountability of the peers that you have built up a rapport with to determine if an article is worth reading. Not only should this not be discouraged, this should be encouraged. There should be more ways to easily determine that the people that you have vetted as trustworthy have rated an article high enough to comment positively on it.