The voice of our reader has always been a critical part of the Sun.

As a paper, we pride ourselves both on dishing out and taking criticism - especially when the latter comes from our readers.

And part of that conversation has taken place on our online comment boards.

However, the increasing use of Sun comment boards for anonymous, negative, even malicious personal attacks, albeit by a minority, has led us to conclude our current commenting system is not serving the interests of the majority of our readers.

Therefore we have decided, for the time being, to no longer allow commenting on most online articles until we sort out a better and more accountable way for our readers to interact with us and each other.

Like a growing number of news organizations, we are also moving away from anonymous commenting because there are other options that encourage respectful, civil debate.

Much of that debate already takes place on social media.

So we will continue to post our stories, columns and editorials on social media, including Twitter and Facebook, and you will be able to comment on them there as you always have.

You can also contact our reporters, columnists and editors directly on their social media accounts or via email as you always have.

And as always, we encourage readers to submit comments to our Letters to the Editor section, which you can do online or via regular mail.

We regret having to make this decision and are working on a solution that will best serve you, our readers, and the Sun.

Meanwhile, keep your comments, views and opinions coming. We value them.

And thank you for your understanding.