I suspected it was an experiment, but it does seem to be bothering users more than engaging them.

I think the main problem users have with this is that they think there's a discussion going on (particularly because there's multiple such comments rather than just one), they go through the trouble of clicking to read the discussion, and it's just links.

The solution to this might be build an automated related section below a post that a user can choose to look at if they want; this provides the value you were providing to user who wants it without introducing the problem of confusing users into thinking there's a discussion going on.

I created an issue for it https://github.com/stackernews/stacker.news/issues/105. wdyt