Well I like Saul's post. It's a valuable contribution to the debate. I think he's saying that this a complicated area... More than just that, of course.

Yes, Raindog, the Guardian can seem to be arbitrary. It often doesn't have a comments section below articles that you might have thought should have one. The "community standards" comment you refer to is standard for removed comments. We don't get to see the removed posts. There is no debate with the moderators. The comments threads are very time-limited. There are many on the go at any one time and I suppose that the Guardian, whilst promoting lively debate, doesn't see itself primarily as as a form of mainstream social media. Not only that, it's a NEWSpaper. Topics can go out of date very quickly whilst new ones crop up in that environment. Mudcat isn't the same kind of beast at all. Anyway, the community standards are easily accessed for you to read. As here, if you don't like the methods of moderation, you don't have to post.