Here's an idea:
Background:
I have gotten progressively disillusioned about the quality of comments to news stories/op/ed pieces. Not just those on DK, but comments to stories on news sites and opinion sites everywhere.
The diary may be well reasoned and written, but the comments rather than promote a conversation, tend to be drive by shots, quick one liners with much thought other than to support or criticize (more often criticize) the author or another commentator. More often than not, a dense group of comments warns of no content rather than inviting with a deeper discussion of the main issues.
So here's my idea,
You can read anything you want. But if you want to comment, you have to post a diary of your own and that diary has to receive a certain number of recs. (10? or whatever). Posting this diary gives you a week (a month?) of commenting time. Yes this may drastically cut down on the number of comments, but will that really detract from the value of the diaries or the site itself? I really wonder about that. It may increase the number of diaries, but don't we want substantive diaries?
Comments are a way to catch people's interest, to get them to feel like they are connected and have some input, but if the result doesn't improve the information or experience of the site, then, perhaps that intent has gone too far and out stripped it's usefulness. Maybe in making it easy to participate, we have made it too easy and we have to look at the site and say "if you can show that you have something to say, then you can comment, if not then feel free to read as much as you like until such time as you can. If all you want to do is throw out comments on the spur of a moment, then perhaps that doesn't contribute to the topic as much.
I don't know how technically feasible this is, but I'm offering it as an idea, take it as you wish.