Katharine Hepburn’s brownies recipe in The New York Times’s Cooking section holds a particular honor: A comment left on the article is the Times moderating team’s all-time favorite.

“This has been my go-to brownie recipe for 30 years,” wrote Sydne Newberry. “In the ’80s, an acquaintance in Germany to whom I brought some of the brownies, and who considered herself a great cook, asked for the recipe but was never able to get it to work. She kept asking me what she was doing wrong and I was never able to solve her problem. Eventually, she moved to the U.S. and stole my husband!”

Since late 2007, when The Times first opened comments on stories, moderators on the community desk have reviewed 16 million of them, with a current rate of about 12,000 daily, said Bassey Etim, who has been the community editor since 2014.

Every day, Mr. Etim, who oversees 12 moderators, and Marcia Loughran, the deputy community manager, decide on which articles comments should be enabled. When making that call, they take into account an article’s news value and the likelihood it will generate thought-provoking reactions — and the potential for comments that will guide reporters on other possible story ideas. “We’ll try to pick stories where the comments are really going to teach you something,” he said. Health stories are good bets — “Everybody can talk about health care because everybody’s been to the doctor” — as well as contentious topics. “It helps when there can be two sides to the debate,” Ms. Loughran said.