I think it probably have something to do that people are just tired of commenting. If you have critics you'll be marked as a troll immediately. It's just like you have to agree or you're a troll.
If you agree nobody seem to care. And hell you need to check every word. Just a little thing others don't think it's okay, they chime in and criticize the commenter.
And then only few comments will be taken as they are. In no time the comments are drifting off-topic and ends up in a personal fight over who is right.
I think that more and more people start to ask themselves "For what? Why should I invest time and energy in fighting over things that won't change with commenting?"
For the author it's difficult. If he does everything right with the article, there is almost never any response. If he pokes someone, then negative comments start to appear. It's almost like a protest. Despite the word, people don't just go on the street and protest "It's great to live here. Our infrastructure is awesome, we have water coming out of our taps, the garbage collection does a good job, we're happy".
They only come out if they are unhappy. Sooner or later it will be the same with the comments. I don't know why this is and how to change it. Maybe it's just the nature of people if a critical mass, and not a small community, are watching. People don't want to get criticized, so they don't write.
Oh and see, I wrote quite some minutes on this. It's some text. So I could have make a blog post out of it. And I'll maybe do that. There is no monetizing here on Google+. None. I can have that on my blog, for my precious time :)
So we have the one that don't want to write a comment, and those who write a comment, but not in any appropriate manner, because today only the very enthusiastic is still writing a comment somewhere. That makes big sites think twice about having a section where people blame the authors, the company, and even one another. I can understand that more and more just don't want that on their site.
[via David Dickens on Google+]
