> I care a lot more what smart people think about the articles than the articles themselves.

Frankly, I'd say that the article authors are smarter on average than the article commenters and in any case are vastly more careful and informed on average than the article commenters. There are of course exceptions to the averages, but it doesn't balance out, because the worst article commenters are infinitely worse than the worst article authors and wreck the discussions for everyone else.

> The news are just provocation to get them to post their opinions.

That's precisely the problem!