I asked about replies. The answer is:
“Sorry to hear that some are having issues with the new comments system. The problem with the old one was that it simply broke and became both insecure and inoperable, so unfortunately a return is just not physically possible at this point. The new system does provide greater security for both you and your regulars as well as greater backend stability in terms of backing up the data.
It is a shame that the system is struggling to support long comments and I know the vendors are working on this to find a way around restrictions. I hope they will find a solution in the near future and I am monitoring developments as well as examining alternatives. For now, though, commenters are inadvertantly restricted to around 6,000 characters, which I understand works out to nearly 2 sides of A4 paper if it were written out – still a generous amount and far beyond the limits of commercial operators such as the Guardian, Sky and Telegraph for example. Systems will always struggle with this level of data whilst also balancing security and stability, however I hope we can find a solution soon as I know your audience does demand longer comments.”