There is always a “Comments” link so that Literal Translations (our print magazine) can have a form conversation in it, where the best comment(s) on an accepted submission will also be published in print.
The decision about whether something should be a comment or a discussion post comes down whether or not it should be printed in the magazine. Suggestions about how to improve the piece, notifications of typos, simple praise, or constructive criticism should be in the discussion forum. If the author has not created a forum topic, you can still visit their profile and from there you can send them a personal email. When you submit something without creating a forum post for it, that makes it look like you’re not very interested in feedback.
Comments should be well-considered responses that are interesting to the general audience. Public debate type responses are good, as well as memories or observations that are triggered by the submission. This is basically a mechanism for “letters to the editor” (or author, really) that might find their way into print.
The author of a submission can create a forum post for the submission in the Submission Discussion forum (or somewhere else if they really want to). Here is an explanation of how to do that. If the author doesn’t do this, there will be no “Discuss” link.
