sigh, yeah...

Most news sites seem to have eliminated comments now as well. The conspiratorial part of me believes there are governments of various countries who purposely degrade the comment areas with flames and trolling and various seedy remarks for the very reason of forcing them into disabling comments for the sake of protecting their own public image. Really, though, how terrible is it that the public can no longer express reactions to various current events in a realm where lots of other people can sse it and think about it?

It's not strictly conspiracy theory. Many governments do have squads of internet posters with the intended purpose to sway public opinion to their own benefit. It just really sucks that honest impressions and commentary with political itineraries are indistinguishable, and that so far nobody's thought of a way to fix this problem while protecting people's identity from retribution. The genius who comes up with a method for doing so will be a true hero.