Mail comments are interesting.
Articles on trans-issues tend to get a lot of comments. Not as mad as some of the Brexit comments and not as informed as some of those in The Times. More what a sensible neighbour or relative might say when they first come across the topic. If you sort by most popular the top posts often get thousands of up votes, usually way more than twitter and plenty of shares. As we discovered in the election Twitter does not reflect voter opinions. (Sorry Owen.)
Something is happening behind the scenes. The first version of the story, the Maya verdict only, had loads of comments, of the "this is dangerous" variety. Then JK Rowling and all the earlier comments disappeared, leaving only a dozen rather odd ones about her being a billionaire, and an announcement that comments were being moderated. Now the story has switched to the abuse JKR is receiving and the confirmation by Julie Bindel that the debate is toxic, and only two , straightforward comments. It like the second, supposedly by Mr Boris Johnson "We each have an opinion, equally valid as each others." Methinks a journo trying to sound like his readers.
Curious though. Why did they pull comments? I guess that the Mail is not going to stand in front and run it as a campaign but is in support and will give the prominent coverage and commission people like Julie, with strong reputations beyond their normal constituency, to effectively write editorials.