[Triple Word Score]

Sounds like a lot of hassle we don't need.

If we can just determine when the article is changed post-publication, excerpting is no longer a problem...and might do nice things for JR's bandwidth bill (I admit I don't know what I'm talking about, but most articles posted get little or no commentary, so I would think that the articles themselves are significant portions of the bandwidth bill.)

I do note however that a certain other conservative site which shall remain nameless does exerpts only, and rarely do they have any truly interesting, thoughtful discussion about the articles. There'll be five or six posts on a thread about an article that generates hundreds of comments here.

Of course, that site owner rigorously suppresses vigorous discussion and bans people all the time for no apparent reason...there's no sign there's the slightest interest in free speech over there.

[Triple Word Score]

It might be of interest to you to do a survey on the front page--how many people actually read the whole article anyway before responding if they decide to respond?

It seems to me that this information might help you decide how much this really matters.