I think one of your readers said it best as follows;
“I really enjoy reading the comments accompanying an article and people’s opinions in general. I consider comments to be the ultimate in democratic discourse and, while there are some which are vacuous or offensive, most of the comments are still insightful and thought-provoking. Even the ‘nasty’ ones are part of the spectrum of public opinion and still a useful gauge of public sentiment. I also look at the comment totals as a flag of public interest and engagement.”
In this regard, I don't feel that the G&M should engage in too much censorship of comments. I note that the latest effort, so called peer judgement whereby one is judged by judging 3 comments to 3 different articles. I found this very confusing as in my opinion the comments had absolutely no relationship with the the corresponding article. I consider this system too cute and it just is not effective as it doesn't work.