Really depends on the community. Comments sections generally work if the readership has something uniting it: a common topical interest; socioeconomic demograph

Really depends on the community. Comments sections generally work if the readership has something uniting it: a common topical interest; socioeconomic demography; regularity; intra-group reputations (and cognizance thereof); etc. Commenters actually put in some effort when they feel they have skin in the game, and when they believe they're going to encounter the same peer-commenters on a regular basis. This was a lot more possible years back, before the rise of social sharing and syndication. Your typical comments section on any given blog -- especially interest-based or topic-based blogs -- could be reasonably intelligent and informative. This is one of the big tradeoffs we've made, inadvertently, by making sharing and distribution so much easier. In the present day, audiences are much more heterogeneous, having come across any given article through dozens of different channels. They have nothing in common. They probably have no particular affiliation with, or respect for, the publication or blog they've stumbled across. Likewise, they don't know, respect, or care about their fellow commenters. Many don't even see themselves as commenters on a particular site, so much as drive-by taggers. They don't expect to stick around, so much as to shout something out and hope people see it. (Or to astroturf a particular link). Reuters probably made the right call here. I don't know anybody who regularly reads Reuters in and of itself. Most of its readership is distributed and ad hoc, as its articles are widely syndicated across print and the web. That's a perfect recipe for a terrible comments section. Note: some people think real identities vs. anonymity plays a big role in comment quality. I haven't yet seen this to be the case. Some of the smartest boards, comments sections, etc., are full of users with anonymous handles. (Though it's key that the handles be permanent, and that the users behind them feel a sense of identity attached to them). Conversely, I've seen "real people" make some downright spammy, idiotic, racist, and generally useless comments on major sites and networks. Identity matters, but it's about more than the name.