We have, for the moment, disabled comments on Semiduplex. If we do activate them, we will institute pretty heavy moderation controls.

Our reasons for doing this are threefold:

1. In 2015, almost everyone has as many outlets to express his or her opinion on a piece as he or she could want. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are but three of the options available to someone who wants to make a comment about a piece. The days of the good old combox being the first, best place to talk about a post are over.
2. Comments frequently require close attention, which we, for a variety of reasons, are not well situated to provide. (This might change, and if it does, it would be an important factor in our reconsideration of our current comment position.)
3. Comments often devolve either into pointless assent and affirmation of the original post or into nastiness of one kind or another. Neither outcome is especially desirable to us.

Also, it is far from clear that Semiduplex has any readers who wish to comment on posts.