Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is most definitely a cost in preparing the comments I write. I have to pay for my energy, pay for the lost opportunity, and I have to pay to recoup past investments that came together to allow me to formulate the comment. As I find entertainment in writing the comments, I am willing to pay the price, but it absolutely does not come free. Other people don't enter the picture. There is no hate towards them, they…
Then why do you post comments in the first place? It would be easier to write them and then close the tab before hitting the button to post them. If you truly only derive value from writing them and none from anybody reading them. And then it still "costs" you to delete them, by your logic. What is the value you get from that? If it's not from a desire to remove value for others, which you claim it isn't?
The forum software which outputs those silly outputs does provide value. For instance, Reddit and I established an agreement where if I pay even more of my time to look at their ads, which gives them value, they will provide me with those silly outputs, which I find valuable. It has been a mutually beneficial trade.
Should the cost of using Reddit go higher, as it seems it will, then the calculator will come out and I will have to determine if the cost is still in line with the benefit. With only 10% of the value coming from there, there isn't a whole lot room for them to play with, especially when you have HN graciously offering essentially the same service for a much lower cost.