[anon457437]

The comma differentiates. The comma indicates a short pause and a certain intonation in speech (the period means a longer pause and a different intonation). If you say that sentence with and without a pause/comma, you'll see (hear) that the sentence is correct. Reading unambiguously is also hard.

[mistercow]

The problem with that is that writers are not consistent with comma usage either, particularly when it comes to informal writing, where prescriptive rules are out the window anyway. And I would argue that it would be a bit of a norm violation even in informal writing to introduce this new point at the end of a paragraph rather than starting a new one, which makes me think that that was not the author's intent.