PG's answer is of course canonical, but as an outside observer, I believe it is incomplete.
The unstated hidden reason comments are disabled is because comment threads often dilute the message of the posting.
Threads can digress and accentuate negative, minor, or emotional/controversial distractions. The postings are a favor to the listing company. If that company prefers just "here's our message, contact us", with no risk of defocusing tangents, then that's the right favor for YC/PG to grant.
It may also be better to decide up front, "we'll give up the comments, good or bad", than to allow comments, and get a few that are so unproductively snarky they create a back-and-forth with critics, or that trigger premature speculation about things strategically left unsaid, or that prompt a later censorship decision (with its accompanying distracting gripetails).
Comments
PG's answer is of course canonical, but as an outside observer, I believe it is incomplete.
The unstated hidden reason comments are disabled is because comment threads often dilute the message of the posting.
Threads can digress and accentuate negative, minor, or emotional/controversial distractions. The postings are a favor to the listing company. If that company prefers just "here's our message, contact us", with no risk of defocusing tangents, then that's the right favor for YC/PG to grant.
It may also be better to decide up front, "we'll give up the comments, good or bad", than to allow comments, and get a few that are so unproductively snarky they create a back-and-forth with critics, or that trigger premature speculation about things strategically left unsaid, or that prompt a later censorship decision (with its accompanying distracting gripetails).