[dsteinweg]

Regarding the colors and un-linkability... why is that? To discourage lengthy "Ask HN" posts?

While I appreciate the commenters who do it, I think it's kind of silly to have to comment a "clickable link" for HN submissions that need it. Why not just change that?

[mooism2]

The unlinkability is to prevent people who post a link from essentially posting a (biased) comment that can't be voted down.

The colours is just to discourage lengthy "Ask HN" posts I think, yes.