I think you're missing my point.  I don't think it's the place of this paper to require the commenters to judge each other, while the G&M's perfectly functional moderating engine watches over us.   

I'm not talking so much about MY comments getting removed, but about being a paying subscriber who the paper requires to judge comments made by others - I'm sorry, that's the job of the G&M moderator.  

And yes, though to a lesser extent, I don't appreciate my comment disappearing into a black hole of someone else's opinion, without having a chance to see what they disputed about it (I make every effort to be civil and diplomatic, and I never 'play the man instead of the ball').  That's how we learn too.