I tag the HN page -- or any other blog page with comments I want to follow -- at delicious.com with the tag "c" (for comments; the one letter is easy to type).

I tag the HN page -- or any other blog page with comments I want to follow -- at delicious.com with the tag "c" (for comments; the one letter is easy to type). I've bookmarked the delicious page for my "c" tags. Then I check whenever I feel the urge and want to spend the time. It's not as nice as the old co.mments.com site, but there you go. I don't really want email notifications of comments; I don't need yet another distraction.