I believe that your proposed placement of the comments link (or button) would be a big downgrade in the UX. Mostly because it is positioned very far from the main link but also because it seems small. It would be a hard "hit target".
If we assume that HN users value other users' comments as much as the linked content, this could be problematic. Also, as typical heavy users, they would surely value efficiency (faster selection of hit targets, less errors).
Go check Fitt's law (I would call it a model, but it is known as "law"). You don't really need to know the formula, but its implications seem to be very generalisable to HCI in general:
1) Ease of target acquisition is directly proportional to size;
2) Ease of target acquisition is inversely proportional to distance;
3) Targets at the edges of the screen can be considered infinite width, making them a lot easier to acquire (i.e. you can move the mouse in that direction indefinitely). This one should be taken with a grain of salt (and it's not taken directly from the original article).
I know it seems obvious but people tend to forget the basics. :)
tl;dr: you should make the comments button a lot easier to hit.
If we assume that HN users value other users' comments as much as the linked content, this could be problematic. Also, as typical heavy users, they would surely value efficiency (faster selection of hit targets, less errors).
Go check Fitt's law (I would call it a model, but it is known as "law"). You don't really need to know the formula, but its implications seem to be very generalisable to HCI in general:
1) Ease of target acquisition is directly proportional to size; 2) Ease of target acquisition is inversely proportional to distance; 3) Targets at the edges of the screen can be considered infinite width, making them a lot easier to acquire (i.e. you can move the mouse in that direction indefinitely). This one should be taken with a grain of salt (and it's not taken directly from the original article).
I know it seems obvious but people tend to forget the basics. :)
tl;dr: you should make the comments button a lot easier to hit.