I'm rather doubtful about what conclusions can be drawn from that investigation, given that it doesn't really present much clear data. It measures how many comm

I'm rather doubtful about what conclusions can be drawn from that investigation, given that it doesn't really present much clear data. It measures how many comments moderators have deleted, assuming most deleted comments are abusive. Sometimes moderators go rogue and start deleting large numbers of comments that are not abusive but which they don't like for some other reason, leading to more people posting the same comments, leading to more deletions. It's as much a study of moderator behaviour as of commenter behaviour. Eg. I saw huge numbers of comments deleted for saying a lot of redditors turned against Ellen Pao because of the perception that she sacked Victoria Taylor. Which doesn't seem abusive to me.