Note: Quality of Letters to the Editor

I find reading letters to the editor enjoyable. I find a lot of good debate springs up in that column, and on the flip side, I find it hilarious how poor comment sections can get. I wonder if this is due to the greater degree of curation by print editors versus the cacophony of the vox populi. I wonder if this is a problem that could be solved on the internet. Is the barrier for entry too low on a website for quality to remain consistently high?