From the tipbox:

More comment fascism from DCist… I guess Sommer Mathis can’t handle criticism. Maybe she should chose a new profession instead of stifling free speech!

Indeed, Mathis says within the post that guest comments are often insulting and/or obnoxious — thus, the site is limiting them. She adds that the DCist site will “probably” do away with guest comments altogether in the future.

And guest commenters are furious. For instance:

i am done reading dcist. way to go sommer! go back to writing drivel about how cops are the bad guys, and how cool shaw is.

and:

Guest commenting allows me to make quick comments at work without logging in. DCist keeps getting worse - crappy writing, crappy content and now crappy policies. Good thing you are free because I would never pay to partake in this drivel.

and: