I agree that normally code should be clear and obvious and require little in the way of comments. The difference is that tables aren't code.
I work with a large Oracle DB which has a mixed attitude towards column comments. You don't have many characters to semantically name a column. If you're using table per hierarchy, or denormalised conventions then it can be entirely unclear which columns are supposed to be used for each row types.
Comment rot is a useful thing when it highlights that something is wrong - e.g. a new value in a table commented as accepting "Y" or "N", which prompts you to go an examine code elsewhere to find out what is going on.
My current thoughts are that all table and columns should have at least some form of comment.
I work with a large Oracle DB which has a mixed attitude towards column comments. You don't have many characters to semantically name a column. If you're using table per hierarchy, or denormalised conventions then it can be entirely unclear which columns are supposed to be used for each row types.
Comment rot is a useful thing when it highlights that something is wrong - e.g. a new value in a table commented as accepting "Y" or "N", which prompts you to go an examine code elsewhere to find out what is going on.
My current thoughts are that all table and columns should have at least some form of comment.