It depends on your writing style: some people naturally write in ways that encourage good discussion about the topic. Write in a tone and on subjects that encourage good discussion rather than polemic arguments, and moderate the comments that are crap. Suddenly, abusive comments aren't as much of an issue. Look at Hacker News. Generally, it avoids subjects that lead to ugly flamewars (save this Apple/Google spat generally turning ugly), and discussion here is generally of decent quality.
Comments can be a distraction, but they can also be a source of good material and feedback. I read a number of blogs that have had excellent posts that began in the comments on another article but blossomed into full fledged posts in themselves.
As for Gruber's site, I agree that his adding comments would be a bad idea. He writes about a highly polarizing subject in a manner that can seem condescending and arrogant. I don't think he's going to get good discussion, at least not on the recent articles he writes.
Comments can be a distraction, but they can also be a source of good material and feedback. I read a number of blogs that have had excellent posts that began in the comments on another article but blossomed into full fledged posts in themselves.
As for Gruber's site, I agree that his adding comments would be a bad idea. He writes about a highly polarizing subject in a manner that can seem condescending and arrogant. I don't think he's going to get good discussion, at least not on the recent articles he writes.