This is the discussion thread for wiki: Wiki for SX Anti-pattern: Comment-first
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The mitigation section there makes an assumption I would like to challenge.
For example, there is the indie game website called itch.io which hosts competitions regularly (so-called jams). After participating there is a voting period which allows to comment on entries. The design decision here: you can only see other comments once you submitted your own. This way there is less likelihood to be influenced by what others have written before you.
Speaking of design decisions: I came to notice that the mentioned examples (Reddit, Hacker News) prominently display a textarea below the link to comment on. Moreover, the presentation of the links is hardly different from the rest of the text. I conclude that the intention is to get to comment as quickly as possible.
TL;DR: Comment-first is a conscious design decision. It is possible to introduce friction to alter the behaviour.
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