It’s better not to worry about it so much. Yes, top comments are exponentially more read than the rest. But HN is so big now that even the bottom comments get a

It’s better not to worry about it so much. Yes, top comments are exponentially more read than the rest. But HN is so big now that even the bottom comments get a large number most of the time. It’s also up to the commenters to strategically place their comments if they care that much. No one forces you to write a toplevel comment when there are already 80. If you have something to say in that situation, and you really want a lot of people to hear it, and you’re pretty sure it’s a good fit for HN (the hardest part), then it usually pays off to post a reply instead. You’ll need to morph what you’re saying slightly so that it doesn’t sound weird, but there are tricks to do so.