Good points. I, however, am dispirited by watching comments devoid of value not getting subjected to the same sort of enthusiastic down-voting as comments that

Good points. I, however, am dispirited by watching comments devoid of value not getting subjected to the same sort of enthusiastic down-voting as comments that reflect exasperation at those very vacuous, time-wasting comments. A culture that prefers polite nonsense to harsh truth-telling is a weak culture. At the very least, both should be punished, but I don't see that here.