I think the value proposition of Disqus is just comparatively low maintenance. You include a snippet of JS and you get a minimally functional commenting system

I think the value proposition of Disqus is just comparatively low maintenance. You include a snippet of JS and you get a minimally functional commenting system that includes antispam and requires running no backend server software or security risks. In return Disqus gets analytics and a little bit of ad space. It's not imo going for discussion, it's meant to be flypaper for readers who get a good-feelings boost thinking they're being heard, so it's a monetization tool more than anything. The extreme end of this is Youtube comments, which accumulate so fast and so voluminously that actual discussion is near impossible, and the limited nesting actively fights replying. You can't follow anything. But millions of people pile their worthless comments into the void because it feels good to have your say. Old, crusty ugly forums are better for conversation than new, shiny JS comment systems because they were actually made for conversation, that was their raison d'etre. Have you tried Discourse? It's almost as good as the hype. So this is kind of related. I've been reading OSNews since the very beginning, and I really, really love it. It used to beat out Slashdot for me, which is about the highest praise I could give a site. In large part it's because it covered stuff I couldn't see anywhere else and the commenters were positive and knowledgeable. But in the last few years there are so many articles about non-OS political stuff, which in turn causes fighting in the comments. Don't underestimate that the types of articles published determines the type of commenters :-(