What makes you say this, Sreese?

In my (modest) experience, comments usually come from the Medium readers who are also writers on the platform. Those are more interested in connecting with others, therefore note their presnce through a lot more than a read. By contrast, those who are here just for the ride can read a lot without leaving a clap or a comment. Many don't even know that you can clap more than once. The people less interested in the options Medium provides are usually those who just read, not the writer-readers. So I'm curious, why do you think reads would increase with the comments deactivated?