if you believe beauty [ or even readability ] is a feature
If readability is a feature, then lack of readability is a lack of that feature, which is a bug [ as measured against the goals of the product ]
So you have a mathematical formula for Readability, excellent.
That would be simpler than adjusting things by 3px until they just look spectacular and zing off the page.
But this is not about readability. It's about what looks 'better', whether you prefer balance vs. having the comments closer. The real debate is about a subjective thing, and not about readability.