I run a few blogs for a couple of pretty big Authors (not GRRM big, but still top 5 in Amazon for their categories). For years now, I've been suggesting to not

I run a few blogs for a couple of pretty big Authors (not GRRM big, but still top 5 in Amazon for their categories). For years now, I've been suggesting to not have comments on the blog, and just have a link to their email saying something like "Want to discuss this? Send me an Email, I'd love to chat!". Every single one of them prefers this method, and has said it creates a much more valuable conversation 1-on-1 with the person, rather than the exposed public sharing of an open comment section. One of the authors actually came up with the idea, and I now love it too. A few others ask for comments as normal, but want people to sign up, and be approved. WP has a nice feature for this where people can sign up + comment in a single go, then the admin can approve that comment, which also approves them to post in the future. Settings > Discussion > "Comment author must have a previously approved comment."