I don’t think that an excellent point-by-point take-down in a comment is not a good idea because
a) It is not very visible and if it is excellent and makes a point it should be done as an independent posting.
b) Writing a point-by-point take-down may be overkill and alienate the initial poster. Compensating him with karma may make good for this (and motivate the commenter to post separately).
c) I think individual counters should be addressed by individual comments to allow the to be voted and commented individually.
In the remaining cases and if the point-by-point reply is well meaning and clarifies matters that were unclear for the initial poster: Why shouldn’t he get some credit for honstly (possibly mustering some courage) bringung up a question?
It is of course important to choose a suitable fraction of the comment karma.
I don’t think that an excellent point-by-point take-down in a comment is not a good idea because
a) It is not very visible and if it is excellent and makes a point it should be done as an independent posting.
b) Writing a point-by-point take-down may be overkill and alienate the initial poster. Compensating him with karma may make good for this (and motivate the commenter to post separately).
c) I think individual counters should be addressed by individual comments to allow the to be voted and commented individually.
In the remaining cases and if the point-by-point reply is well meaning and clarifies matters that were unclear for the initial poster: Why shouldn’t he get some credit for honstly (possibly mustering some courage) bringung up a question?
It is of course important to choose a suitable fraction of the comment karma.