I think moderating comments needs to be banished.

Nah because then someone could just post (for example) medical gore in a “safe space” and it’ll just get downvoted but not removed.

It wasn’t gore, but do you remember the ThuleanPerspective (I think?) trolls from a little while back, spamming that racist photoshopped Simpsons comic by commenting it on literally everything? That effort was neutralized in the short term by deleting those comments on the spot, and then the users who posted them.

It is absolutely a useful tool, but like most useful tools it can be abused.