All this ultimately depends on what is the goal of HN. I believe the goal is to foster discussion. So, the number of comments would be a great metric.
Regarding clicks, I think even if people just click every comment link to find out what the discussion is about, the site/design has achieved its goal. It may reveal whether the points cloud new interesting articles.
Perhaps, this experiment could also include clouding of domain to see if techcrunch and other popular domains get extra juice thanks to its popularity.
Regarding clicks, I think even if people just click every comment link to find out what the discussion is about, the site/design has achieved its goal. It may reveal whether the points cloud new interesting articles.
Perhaps, this experiment could also include clouding of domain to see if techcrunch and other popular domains get extra juice thanks to its popularity.