<i>Maybe the solution is to make comments work more like submissions, e.g. new top-level comments start out dead and need two upvotes before they go live.</i><p>Is that also related to the way comments are now weighted against time, as well as value? Every new comment is momentarily - or longer - placed at the top of the comments page, so something trite will live above a 32 point well-reasoned post for a period of time, depending on how old the 32 pointer happens to be.<p>When the new comments went straight to the pile of 1 point comments at the bottom, there was less incentive to contribute late in a discussion as your input could be overlooked; in fixing that problem, there's now an increased noise-to-signal ratio as low-value comments filter their way down, rather than build their way up.