It's no surprise that the internet is full of "meta debate" and "social shaming" - arguing about the terms of debate and who can participate, and not over any

It's no surprise that the internet is full of "meta debate" and "social shaming" - arguing about the terms of debate and who can participate, and not over any core issues. For debates to be productive, all sides need to agree on at least some facts, and come from a place of good faith. Most places online, anyone can walk in and add their comment. They don't need to share any assumptions with the rest of the audience, and they probably aren't invested in having a productive debate anyway. It produces drive-by commenters. Productive debates are more likely to happen in places with 1. Moderation and 2. an invested community. That's what makes HN successful, in my opinion. But we can't turn every comment section into HN. Moderation is expensive. And some sites aren't niche enough to foster a sense of community. So we should probably remove most comment sections. News sites are particularly bad. Anyone can just stop by, leave their shitty opinion, and walk away.