I've never understood why HN has never included even a 80 character description. I think it would really help even if it was only shown on the comments tab.
> How do I make a link in a text submission?
> You can't. This is to prevent people from submitting a link with their comments in a privileged position at the top of the page. If you want to submit a link with comments, just submit it, then add a regular comment.
If you want to add more context, add it in a comment. If it’s good people will upvote it.
Though this is something that keeps coming up on Reddit as well, I assume there's a reason why HN went with this design.