It's an article in an official publication. It's like a "letter to the editor" of a scientific journal, and has always been published alongside the more fact based research reports. People were posting "blog posts" in journals long before "blogs" were a thing. Part of the idea of a journal is exactly, like a newspaper, to exercise editorial control over what sorts of discussions they decide to include in each issue.

Science isn't just cold reports on aimless facts. You're supposed to discuss with your peers.