I wasn't able to engage others in the comment sections. I didn't see anyone I was on the same wavelength with to talk about the ideas I did see.

I agree that it can be difficult to get a start commenting on LW. The karma system favors regulars, because people skip over comments whose user names they do not recognize and/or have low votes, and this is a self-reinforcing process. Again I think experimenting, in this case with the way comments are presented, could be beneficial.