They look like they're flagged comments. I know my eyesight is getting worse as I get older but I can't be the only one who needs a custom css just to be able to comfortably read the posts.
# HN Color
news.ycombinator.com##html:style(background-color: #011 !important)
news.ycombinator.com###hnmain:style(background-color: #011 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.toptext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.age:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.c00.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.cdd.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.c9C.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.c73.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.c5a.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.cbe.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.c88.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.cae.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.cce.commtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.comhead > a:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.comhead:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.hnuser:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.subtext > a:link:style(color: #588 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.subtext > a:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.subtext:style(color: #191 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##.title > a:style(color: #191 !important; background-color: #011 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##a:link:style(color: #588 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##a:visited:style(color: #255 !important)
news.ycombinator.com##a:hover:style(color: #191 !important; background-color: #011 !important)
Source: https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=re...