Why is the 'Discuss this topic' missing from Yahoo

Just as a thought, I noticed the 'Discuss this topic' is missing from Yahoo News pages. There is a weak explanation for this (particularly coming from an organisation of their size) which goes:

" To Yahoo! News readers:

Yahoo! News is working on new ways for readers to comment on the news and participate in a discussion around it. While we work on our new community features, the message boards that were linked from individual news articles have been taken offline.

As they were set up, the Yahoo! News message boards allowed a small number of vocal users to dominate the discussion. In addition, related discussions from similar news articles were not easily linked.

Over the next few months, we plan to offer new discussion forums based on topics in the news and incorporating the latest features to foster a better discussion for all of our readers.

Neil Budde
General Manager
Yahoo! News"

Just struck me as "odd". Surely they would have prepared something beforehand... no grand conspiracy theory here, just seems odd. Anyone know when the 'Discuss' option disappeared? When it is going to come back? After the Iraq war? Who knows...

Any suggestions gratefully received? Mind you, there were an awful lot of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals on there. Trolling left, right, and centre.... politically and mentally.