The trick for older, active posts is to start commenting under the top comments instead of making a top level comment yourself. That way, you're seen by most people who don't sort comments by new.

For sure. I was largely a lurker on Reddit not because I didn't like engaging with the content and community, but because it was practically impossible for me to engage in anything. Either the post I commented on didn't get popular enough to last long enough for engagement, of by the time I saw something that was popular enough, everyone had already moved on hours ago. It feels much different here where there's fewer posts, and that means that people will spend longer on each post and speak their own mind as well, rather than looking at the top three comments, and moving into the next post.

That's true. I've got a feeling that the rhythm has changed. I'm not sure if it's because there aren't as many posts per minute or because by the time I read I post it doesn't already have like 10000 comments. Suddenly I dare to engage in the conversation because people are still taking part on it, my comment is not going to get lost. I like this a lot.