I think a lot of Hacker News readers actually look at the comments first. I remember people mentioning that on HN and I know my wife and I usually do, presumably so does the app's developer.
Spot on. I often use the comments to quickly judge if a link is worth visiting. If so, I click through and then come back for more conversation if I'm still interested.
I think showing comments first was a great design decision.
I think showing comments first was a great design decision.