Why We Turned Off Comments

Don’t worry: Tech Review’s comments are only on hiatus. We think hearing from our community is important, and we understand that some of you know more than we do about the subjects we cover. But we also believe that comments on most sites are broken, and we feel we can do better. We want to be an innovator in engaging with “the people formerly known as the audience.” In the near future, we’ll relaunch our comments with something that treats you as a resource for your fellow readers; that respects your remarks as an integral part of stories; that lets us hear you loud and clear. Our comment sections will elevate and amplify the most intelligent and civil responses, and diminish or hide the worst. Trolls will be banished. There will be a conversation.

At their best, comments can be the most interesting, surprising parts of a story. But mostly they’re not, because commenting systems and editorial thinking about comments suck. Stay tuned: we hope we’ve found a better way.

You can continue to follow the conversation in social media on our Facebook and Twitter pages.