Honestly I think going straight to the comments is totally fine, as long as you read the article (or at least skim it, please) before posting your own top-level comment. I'm not sure why you're downvoted either really, because you're not doing any harm by just reading them.
However, your method does become less useful if the comments that people do post become increasing divorced from the article! Sometimes on Reddit people almost create their own alternate reality in the comments based only on the title. When we only read the comments we end up living in that reality.
However, your method does become less useful if the comments that people do post become increasing divorced from the article! Sometimes on Reddit people almost create their own alternate reality in the comments based only on the title. When we only read the comments we end up living in that reality.