In the composing window of Gawker Media’s publishing platform, there is a toolbar. At one end of the toolbar is a little icon of a gear. If you click that gear, it brings out a secondary toolbar offering the platform’s less frequently used features. Second from the right is a little blue virtual switch labeled “Allow Replies,” which is on by default. If you click it, it turns gray, and when the post is published, readers are unable to put comments on it.

It is a mistake to read too much into internet comments; then again, it is a mistake to read nothing into internet comments. They offer a view into the psyche of a large subset of the population—a view that cannot be found anywhere else outside of court records.

The primary driver of racism in America? Black people like Beyonce, who celebrate thugs who want to divide us. White America does not have a racism problem—just ask these incensed internet commenters.

As you all know, there is no internet comment more devastating and definitive than saying something is “Economics 101”—thereby proving that you are right, beyond any doubt. Sadly, this important internet commenting device is now threatened.

Recently, the readers of the esteemed Wall Street Journal were given an opportunity to share their opinion on “dunking,” the high-flying activity that has become all the rage of the basketball world.

A corruption case out of New Orleans has turned into a fight over an issue that might be of interest to certain users of this here website: Do commenters on a news website have an absolute right to anonymity? And it all traces back to a federal prosecutor with an out-of-control, borderline-rehab-requiring online commenting habit. Federal prosecutors: They're Just Like Us.

Everybody who comments is a very specific kind of commenter, but which one are you? Take this weird quiz to find out.

YouTube commenters have many lessons to teach us. Lessons like: Trayvon Martin was a thug! White people are oppressed! The creator of this particular piece of content is a faggot! Infowars dot com! Invest in gold to avoid being suckered by the reptoid-controlled Fed and its fiat currency!

They call it "the nasty effect."

Yesterday, Ki Suk Han was tragically struck and killed by a subway train in Midtown Manhattan after being thrown onto the tracks by an angry and perhaps mentally disturbed panhandler. We could spend all day debating the actions of the New York Post photographer whose horrifying photo of Han shortly before his death ran on the paper's front page today. What cannot be debated is this: the New York Post's online commenters are some of the world's most... interesting people.

We have turned off our comments today here at Gawker.com. This morning, I posted a post beseeching our readers, "Is your pet cute, and can you prove it with a picture? Answers go in the comments." Our readers caught this logical discrepancy with utmost haste.

The Ides of March are upon us. Beware the boredom that comes from not doing something fun! Our boredom-killing, fun-inducing live blog of Project Runway All Stars' penultimate episode is about to begin down in the comments, just as the soothsayers of ancient Rome predicted it would. Join us!

Here is a story on the New York Post's website about a jury ruling that Americo Lopes, a New Jersey man who hit a $77 million lottery jackpot, must share his winnings with his coworkers, who were in a lottery pool with him. The details of this story are unimportant. It is fascinating because, like a petri dish freshly set with agar gel, it has attracted every variety of Awful Internet Commenter. Behold:

Calling all would-be cyber-chroniclers of television history: An upcoming hour of reality TV needs to be live-blogged for pop-cultural posterity. Are you up to the challenge? Then join us!

It's been a long season full of chefs who couldn't seem to stop bullying, bitching, bleeding, crying, saying smutty things, and even getting naked. And on tonight's reunion show, they'll get a chance to cry, bully, bitch, bleed, undress or talk dirty for us on last time—and we'll get one last chance to live-blog it all in the comments. Join us!

Ciao, chatter-nistas! Ready to chat about the stuff that really matters in life? No? Excellent! Then I'm sure you'll want to chatter about matters that don't matter instead—like the matter-free happenings on the latest episode of Project Runway All Stars. We're live-blogging the show in the comments, so why not join us?

Legend tells us that live-blogging on a Leap Day brings four years of good luck. And the fact that I just made that up doesn't make it any less possibly true. So join us as we live-blog tonight's Top Chef season finale, and you might just get lucky every day until 2016!

It's time for another episode of Project Runway All Stars—also known as "Mondo's March to (Probable) Redemption." We're live-blogging all the action under this post, so why not join us and strut your commenting stuff?

It's time for the penultimate episode of everyone's favorite show, "Top Chef Jumps the Shark in Canada By Way of Texas." And no matter how silly this season gets, it's always a blast to live-blog the show together—which we're about to do in the comments under this post. Join us!

At 3:15PM, Berlin time, The Wall Street Journal suffered an unprecedented attack, The Wall Street Journal reports. A shadowy organization called "Anonymous Kollektiv" had orchestrated a "comment flash mob." The chilling result: Facebook comments. Here is what they said: