Thanks for explaining what spam was--I think a lot of the people here probably were unaware. It's always good to learn things.

Anyway, more to the point: First, the comments are almost always the most interesting part of a mainstream article, to the point where I will scroll down to see if they are there (if not--don't bother). Are there idiots posting? Yep--just scroll past, no problem. Second, Mainstream media dislikes comments because they don't like people pointing out their errors. (No one does, of course.)