[netruk44]

Maybe the posters might have deleted the comments themselves?

I often post comments on HN, just to delete them 5 minutes later when I realize I don’t care to deal with the replies I’ll eventually get.

You have to be quick because if someone does reply, you can no longer delete your message.

[bluebarbet]

One benefit of this forum is that they purposely passed over notifications precisely to save us from the temptation to "deal with" replies.

[netruk44]

And I very much appreciate that feature, and hope it never changes.

However when I make comments here, I do it with the intention of reading what people have to say in response.

If I am making a comment with the intention to ignore the responses to it, then that’s a good signal for myself that what I am writing is likely not an appropriate comment for HN, and then delete it.

[maplethorpe]

I didn't realise messages even had a delete button. I'm going to reply here so I can check.

edit: you're right, there's a delete button.