[Emma_Goldman]

Your first and second sentence contradict one another. You assign 'very little value to anything that can't be commented on', yet you believe a 'solid piece of journalism does have value', even if it can't be commented on.

I would say the overwhelming majority of quality writing on the internet does not accommodate comments, from academic journals, to serious think-pieces and long-form essays.

[DharmaPolice]

"Letters to the Editor" used to (and I suppose still does) function as a method of replying to serious think pieces. Of course the newspaper/magazine curated (and edited) which replies were printed and just as importantly there's a built in speed limit to that kind of exchange. Both these things help (although you do still see incredibly stupid things in letters to the editor).