Comments on a website are always a bit problematic. There are so many decisions to make. Do you let the comment post with or without moderation? Do you verify every person who posts? Do you allow people to say whatever they want, or do you apply a bit of censorship? How do you control spammers?

On our eNewsAZ network, we know our readers are mostly pretty great, so we choose to trust them as much as possible. We let the comment post without moderation, but we monitor it closely, and edit or remove comments that are inappropriate rather quickly.

It's pretty much impossible to verify and patrol every person who posts. I recently heard a colleague from another publication mention that they can identify with certainty some people who post 4 or 5 times under different names on their site. I understand that - how do you prevent that?

We believe heartily in censorship when it comes to comments! Not that we have to apply it very often: our readers typically stay on topic, don't hurl too many personal insults, and remember to keep things family friendly. But, in order to keep the discussion civil and orderly, at times censorship is an excellent tool. We're not afraid to censor, it makes the site much more pleasant for everyone who points their browser our way.

As for spammers? Ugh! They make the Internet experience awful for everyone. Bleh. That's why we have the "captcha" system - or we did. Until now, that is.

Introducing our new comment system!

We just installed our new comment system, and boy, are we excited! It's easier to use, and there are several new features you're going to love.

First of all, no CAPTCHA!!! Hooray! What a hassle that was to go through just to make a comment, trying to read those dumb looking letters. But, it was necessary, otherwise we'd have received hundreds of spam emails a day.

Meet Disqus

Our new comment system is called "Disqus" (pronounced "discuss").

There are a lot of options in your commenting now.

Let's start at the top and learn how to use it. You can "Like" or "Dislike" an article, and see who else agreed with you. You can also share that opinion on either Facebook or Twitter.

Do you want to make a comment? Now you can sign in using your Facebook, Twitter or Google account, if you choose; and your comments may also be posted in your social network. Additionally, there are options for the not-as-well-known Disqus, OpenID and Yahoo account types. Sign in using Facebook or Twitter,

By the way, if you choose to register with Disqus, you can set up a profile, and then you'll have a record of all the comments you make with that profile, no matter what site you're on, and they'll never be lost. You'll even develop a "commenter reputation". You'll also be able to reply to comments using email or mobile apps.

Don't want to log in to your social network account? No problem, you can still log in as a "Guest". Just type your comment and click the "Post as..." button in the lower right corner. A box will pop up, click on the button that says, "Guest," and then provide the standard information.

Advanced Features

Perhaps you have a photo you want to add to your comment. You can do that! (See the comment at the end of the article, Free Admission During National Park Week.)

Or, maybe you want to reply specifically to someone's comment. You can do that, too.

And, if you don't like what someone else wrote? Flag it. We've set it up so that if someone flags a comment, it will be turned off and await moderation. We'll then examine the comment as soon as possible, and make a determination as to whether or not it should remain.

A Final Word About Comments

We really, really want to hear what you have to say. But we believe that for comments to be effective, they must be respectful, even if vigorous. In light of that, we insist on keeping the words family-friendly; we don't allow nasty, personal insults, and we think everything is best if folks stay on topic. So long as that all happens, we love having our readers participate.

But with Disqus, readers can do more than participate, they can have a conversation with one another, and share that conversation on their social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. They can set up profiles, where they can track their comments. They can share photos and images and so much more.

Enjoy!