Where have the true gentlemen of the Internet gone?

We don’t know about you, but we’ve noticed that some people have a tendency to be rude and even obnoxious when they post comments to articles on the Internet. It’s kind of a thing, actually.

CNN.com reports that Nick Denton, founder and managing editor of imperial ultrablog Gawker, told an audience on Sunday that online comments (as we know them) just aren’t worth the trouble anymore. “For every two comments that are interesting — even if they’re critical, you want to engage with them — there will be eight that are off-topic or just toxic.”

The utopian vision of the comments section as a forum for insightful discussion and respectful disagreement is dead, Denton confirmed. It has been buried by the lonely morons and bachelor fundamentalists, the chronically ignorable, and the atomized masses yearning to scream free.

“The idea of capturing the intelligence of the readership — that’s a joke.”

But instead of imposing cute regulations like thumbs-up or -down voting on comments, or even doing away with comments entirely, Denton is interested in allowing a “hand-picked, pre-approved” group of qualified people access to each story on his site. By limiting the number of commenters to a kind of guest list, the hope is that the critical dialog can continue without degenerating into nonsense.

Online comments have intervened in the justice system recently, too. Amy Senser, a Minneapolis woman accused of a hit-and-run homicide, may have her trial moved to a different county if her lawyer can persuade the judge that the vicious comments posted to local media websites have made a fair trial impossible.

“Can a fair trial in highly publicized cases be held anywhere?” the lawyer wrote in his briefing, which was found stained with the juice of a can or two of worms. He went on:

“The postings hideously depict a mob mentality of the community that includes violent references to hanging and killing Ms. Senser, running over and killing members of her family, and even wishing for the death of the defense attorney and his family.”

We throw ourselves to the lions: What’s your take on comments sections in general? Is the free-for-all model working? Do we need closer monitoring and supervision? No more anonymity? No more comments? Where’s Obama’s birth certificate?

(That last one was just bait.)

We want to hear from you, but be gentle . . .