Why No Comments at Evolution News?

A complaint we sometimes get at Evolution News & Views concerns why we do not provide a forum for comments after each post. Rather than reply to this question afresh each time it comes across my desk, I would like to state the reasons here so that, in the future, I can simply provide a link by way of an answer.

Now and then the query is posed in a polite manner by a thoughtful correspondent. For example, biologist Douglas E. Swartzendruber at Pepperdine University writes to ask:

A lot of us...