Note that GP said 'was'. I cannot tell how it is now, but there definitely was a point in time when Slashdot went for a dumb JS-enabled-dynamic-interactive fad and totally screwed the usability of their comments section. This is what made me stop participating.
Yes when they first put in the Javascript it was a pain, of course NoScript fixed that.
Reddit was, is, and looks like it always will be, a mess. Even when Slashdot first put in the Javascript in place you could at least still find things on the site.
They still have that, so not so much of a fad. It works but at the time it got in the way for me too and probably contributed to me jumping ship as well.
HN crowd on /. comment moderation with slimmer graphics and collapsible comment trees (like reddit) would probably be close to what I think of as ideal.
