Maybe, but there is another possibility:
Every time someone posts a comment, the entire Articles forum gets re-sorted, in order of comment posting date, most recent first. Articles without comments probably are treated as though they have a posting date of zero. So, in the sort, they’ll end up at the end of the list.
Whatever the problem is, I just had a brainstorm. Instead of a dummy record for each article, why not make a real record for each article. It could say something like, “To view this article, click on the link above. To post a comment, click on Post Your Own Comment below.” This real record could remain visible (as the top record) even after one or more comments have been submitted.
Bingo – no more discrepancies between total number of records and apparent number of records. In addition, user friendliness would be improved, because:
(a) Forum viewers would be made aware of the article, even if there are no comments as yet. This would be a real boon to goofballs such as myself, who never bother to view CLO the “regular” way. (Have you noticed that I have never made the first comment on any article? That’s because I didn’t know it was there!)
(b) At present, some potential posters may not even be aware of how to view the article. (I must admit that, when the Articles forum was first established, I was in that boat myself.) The new “real record” could easily include these instructions, as suggested above.
As QuickDraw McGraw once said, what do you think of that idea, Baba Looey? Yes, I know, Baba Looey responded “I thin’ we should forget the whole thin’.” – but maybe this time QuickDraw has a good idea. 
Bill Smythe