On HN, if you click on the timestamp -- voila -- it's perfectly readable again, no matter how greyed out.
They grey it out because they don't show the count. They used to, back in the early days, and it just promoted stupid arguments.
Greying it out is an elegant solution that plays well with local culture where some people will provide corrective upvotes if they think the comment doesn't deserve that.
I didn't know that, thanks. It does still require following the link to view it plainly, which is a slight deterrent, but that's a lot more balanced than I initially thought.
They grey it out because they don't show the count. They used to, back in the early days, and it just promoted stupid arguments.
Greying it out is an elegant solution that plays well with local culture where some people will provide corrective upvotes if they think the comment doesn't deserve that.