> I felt the comments did not address the merits or contents of what was being presented
That's wildly different from:
> I see a lot of snark in the comments
The first is essentially "People should talk about the actual content more" while the second is "People are mocking the submission". If no other top-level comments actually seem like mocking, it seems fair that someone reacts to the second sentiment
> The topic was being dumped on at that time and drowning out the signal.
There was a whole of 7 comments when you made yours (https://ditzes.com/item/45646559), most of them children comments, none of them mocking the submission nor the author.
edit: did you see my comment when it was first posted? The topic was being dumped on at that time and drowning out the signal. I promise I'm not part of a dark pattern.