Dang actually considers the comment fading an absolutely essential feature:
> The fading is an important element of HN's design—I don't mean its web design, I mean its community design. It's one critical way in which the community signals that it has found something wrong with a comment.
> These signals are extremely important for calibrating users' perceptions of the community—especially new users.
> I think it was one of pg's master strokes actually. For all its annoyance, it creates important feedback loops, both within the community and between the community and the outside world.
> The fading is an important element of HN's design—I don't mean its web design, I mean its community design. It's one critical way in which the community signals that it has found something wrong with a comment.
> These signals are extremely important for calibrating users' perceptions of the community—especially new users.
> I think it was one of pg's master strokes actually. For all its annoyance, it creates important feedback loops, both within the community and between the community and the outside world.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24334263