Comments above or below?

There’s a detail I’ve been noticing on several weblogs recently that has got me slightly puzzled. It’s the position of the links for adding or reading comments.

On these sites, this link is located below the post’s title, but before the actual content. You can see this in action at Asterisk or plasticbag.org, for example; I’m not picking them out specifically, it’s something I’ve seen in many places, they’re just the two that spring to mind as they’re part of my regular reading list.

I would imagine that the logical sequence in which you would read a post would be:

If the link to comments is in second position, you need move your focus back up the page after reading the post in order to check out existing comments or add your own.

I can see an advantage in having the comments link above the post for return visitors who, having already read the post, will head straight for the comments. In that case, wouldn’t a setup like that of John Hicks be better? He duplicates the link above and below his posts.

Have I missed something? I’ve thought about it a lot but can’t see an advantage to it unless it’s purely aesthetic or simply no longer considered important in the age of RSS.

Any tips or ideas?