Don’t make us regret this. I’m joking! I’m joking! (But seriously.) We want our site to cultivate community and thoughtful discussion. So we are testing the return of reader comments on articles.
If you’re a longtime reader, you might remember that years ago, readers could leave comments on our articles. But due to limited staff resources, we turned the feature off.
Well, it’s 2026. The tech has evolved, and we’re hopeful we can make this work a second time around. We’re working with product partner Arena, and with the technology’s help, we can more easily monitor comments to help ensure a safe, respectful, welcoming space for all.
We hope you’ll enjoy chatting about local issues in the comments. We see it as another place where you can engage directly with us. Hit us with your praises — and your constructive feedback.
You can get salty with other readers or toward us. But there is a comment policy. Comments are monitored using Arena’s moderation platform, including automated filtering and human review. If you violate these guidelines, we may pull your comments or ban you.
- Respectful engagement
- No hate speech, no harassment. We will remove comments that contain offensive, abusive, or threatening language. No slurs, no discriminatory language, no personal attacks.
- Be civil and constructive. Engage in discussions with respect, even in disagreement. No excessive trolling, name-calling, or inflammatory remarks.
- Stay on-topic
- Comments should be relevant to the article, topic, or discussion at hand.
- Nothing illegal or harmful
- Don’t share or promote illegal activities, violence, or dangerous misinformation.
- Content that violates copyright laws or intellectual property rights will be removed.
- No spam, no self-promotion
- Avoid repetitive comments, excessive linking, and promotional material.
- Advertisements, solicitations, and irrelevant links will be flagged as spam.
How article comments work
Leaving comments is fairly easy. Scroll to the bottom of an article, click “Login” (there on the right side), choose a sign-in method, enter your email and display name, and chat away.
We won’t use your personal data from this (here’s our privacy policy), but your comments may be used in Reader Response articles or cited in future reporting. Don’t share personal information (yours or others’), including addresses, phone numbers or financial details. Protect your privacy and respect others’ confidentiality.
This is a trial run. If we find that this isn’t building community, or if it’s platforming bile that we cannot manage, then like Thanos, we’ll snap our fingers and turn it back off. But I know we won’t need to do that.
Thank you for reading. As always, feel free to reach out to chat, say hi, or share feedback about our sites, social media, newsletters, or journalism with me. My email is chelsey.dequaine@voicemediagroup.com. Now let’s keep it civil.
Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek
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