It's weird to me how often people try to shoehorn aspects of the site into reddit/not-reddit. It has always been common to talk about some piece of tech that's related to the article, in a way that's not touched by the article itself and doesn't need it to be read first. That doesn't make those comments shallow, and I wouldn't put it in a list of distinguishing factors of reddit either. I agree with the idea that it's not a problem until you're speculating on the article, or raising a point that the article already addressed.