Earlier quoted context omitted.
I signed up for Product Hunt more than a year ago and still do not have commenting access. My product was submitted by someone and featured even! And I wasn't able to respond or interact with the "community" in any way.
I've had the exact same experience. Still cannot comment to this day. I simply stopped visiting months ago when I realized I was never going to be allowed to participate in the site.
The largest problem is that even long time users can't comment. I've requested commenting access for it several times. I feel like I have a lot to contribute to these product discussions and simply can't.
Not much point in visiting a site when you can't contribute yourself and you can't help but wonder how much better the conversations would be if others could comment outside a small inner-club of people.