Seems I might be the only one confused about your wording, do you mean the top 10 articles on the front page, or top 10 comments within an article?
In answer to both questions, I do both. I usually go through the articles from #1 to ~#120, reading articles I find interesting, and usually reading all the HN comments for that article too (you can learn a ton from reading more than just the top couple of comments).
Sounds like this approach would suck up a lot of time, but HN submission topics are often pretty narrow, and my interests are somewhat narrow too, so I usually only end up reading only 4-5 HN articles or less a day.
In answer to both questions, I do both. I usually go through the articles from #1 to ~#120, reading articles I find interesting, and usually reading all the HN comments for that article too (you can learn a ton from reading more than just the top couple of comments).
Sounds like this approach would suck up a lot of time, but HN submission topics are often pretty narrow, and my interests are somewhat narrow too, so I usually only end up reading only 4-5 HN articles or less a day.