It seemed to happen after they posted the SpaceX article(www.theverge.com/2015/6/29/8863121/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-explosioauses) that was poorly thought through. They got some criticism(but not abusive) feedback in the comments.
They started deleting comments in that thread and it all went downhill from there once people realized posts were being removed.
Kinda a shame, I liked Topolsky & Co but I don't visit it nearly as much after that.
It had been brewing a while, in my opinion. What I was seeing happening was, reasonable people would point out flaws in the article, then a moderator would jump in and argue with the person like they were a child and their points were stupid, escalating the situation and probably now pissing off more people than just the original complainer. I stopped reading their comments because of the moderators. Moderators should be seen and not heard.
Deleting comments, locking threads created by reasonable people - in general, over-zealous mods suppressing the voices of users who don't toe the party line - is an unforgivable sin if you're trying to manage an online community, and The Verge is really terrible at this.
They started deleting comments in that thread and it all went downhill from there once people realized posts were being removed.
Kinda a shame, I liked Topolsky & Co but I don't visit it nearly as much after that.