I agree. This really seems like a product you'd want to get out there fast and fail a few times with.

As far as I can see, there isn't even a clear Best Way to handle online community they could build towards. Just like every voting system has side effects and weird incentives, any system that chooses what opinions and information reach people will, too.

At the very least, I hope to see a public discussion of the different designs they've shopped to the news orgs, and the side effects they anticipate. That way the project can at least be judged on whether it satisfies the goals the organization decides to pursue, because a perfect online comment publication system seems like an impossible goal.