Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
I dont know if in a minority ; I always read the comments on a post before I read the article...
I do this here and on reddit as well...
I still read the articles, but I like to grab the gist from comments first, it allows me to be able to read the article faster as I can skim and search at the same time.
I don't think there is any requirement to read an article - that's implicit in the guideline that you don't comment on whether a poster read the original article.
I would say 75-80% of the time I read the comments first, and probably close to 25% of the time I never read the posted article. Also - I found that comment regarding modern concrete, and the pointer to PracticalEngineering to be, by far, the most interesting comment so far - significant contribution. (And yes, I did read both in their entirety)
Perhaps a better response might have been, "The PracticalEngineering article is missing the key detail regarding the exothermic hot baking associated with using quicklime instead of, or in addition to, the slaked lime, and the self-healing properties associated with that. Though the lack of corrosive iron, long curing times, and large structures might be more important - and its unfortunate the original article doesn't mention those as an important detail to at least demonstrate the authors were aware of this."
What the poster of that link effectively said is that I know all there is about this topic, then post an 'interesting' link as his source, without realising that the current topic is new development not covered by it.
