"Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me. I'd be more shocked if the opposite were true -- if the site publisher wanted to remove a comment, and Disqus, for whatever reason, wouldn't let them. Disqus isn't supposed to be making editorial decisions on their customers' sites; if someone wants to be an idiot and moderate out non-cheerleading comments, it's not Disqus' place to override that decision.

""Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me."

Aren't they editing the comments for their customer?

Why would they be? Sites using Disqus can moderate their own comments, and Disqus claims to do no moderation beyond that -- see http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-d....

I suppose you could come up with a theory where The Atlantic talked/bribed Disqus into doing the moderation for them, but it seems much more straightforward to assume that it's the admins at The Atlantic who were filtering comments.

By they, I mean the Atlantic, not Disqus. Though, it wouldn't surprise me if they had contract moderator options available for companies who don't want to employ their own.

This sly comment remains though. :)

"Such beautiful buildings! It's a shame that Shelley Miscavige couldn't join her husband at the gala openings!"

Yes ... I appreciated that one too. I'm sure they're monitoring HN since this place is such a bastion of scientists, so it might be disappearing shortly.

They probably have a contract that Disqus wouldn't want the Atlantic to cancel.