Online commenting comes to an end on telegram.com

Public discussion and civil debate are crucial to our society. And we need feedback from our readers to do our jobs effectively.

For years, one way that we've solicited your feedback has been the ability to make comments on news articles that appear online.

We've long known that comment sections across the internet can quickly devolve when they’re left unmonitored, so we've involved editors from the newsroom in moderating the discussion to help provide a better experience.

But now, it’s time for a reset.

While we continue to believe in the importance of comments, we’re not willing to risk discussions veering off track or people being verbally attacked.

That's why we're making the choice to move away from article comments; the "View Comments" button has disappeared from online article pages.

We know that you, our readers, know things that we don’t, and we still want to hear from you. We invite you to follow us on social media (where you can still have discussions with others about our journalism) or to click on the byline on any article to send an email and feedback directly to the reporter.

We look forward to continuing to serve you and our community in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Online commenting coming to an end on telegram.com