Comments don't scale very well for popular sites, but a strong moderator presence is vital to creating a good commenting community.
The problem with this for sites like PBS is that the moderation alienates some users and feeds the confirmation bias of some people.
You have to decide for yourself what level of discussion you want and invest a proportional effort. The problem is that most people want good comment discussions without any effort, and that's not going to happen.
Comments
Comments dead? What a load of crap.
Comments don't scale very well for popular sites, but a strong moderator presence is vital to creating a good commenting community.
The problem with this for sites like PBS is that the moderation alienates some users and feeds the confirmation bias of some people.
You have to decide for yourself what level of discussion you want and invest a proportional effort. The problem is that most people want good comment discussions without any effort, and that's not going to happen.