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. Is that

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. 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. 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.