We’ve decided to no longer allow — at least for now — people to comment at the end of stories appearing on DailyCamera.com and BuffZone.com.

Commenting on stories, while a sound idea in principle, presents a host of challenges for us and we simply do not have the tools or adequate resources to ensure story commenting provides positive value to our readers.

We indeed have seen times when there are good comments and reasonable discussions of issues in the comment sections — intended to be a sort of virtual town square of reasoned, rational, calm debate. Yes, commenters also have graciously pointed out errors that we’ve then corrected. And some have given us additional story angles and ideas to pursue, which enabled us to better serve you, our readers.

We’d hoped the commenting community would be self-policing to provide everyone a safe place to be heard.

But that hasn’t happened.

The vast majority of the time, the comments are dominated by a small group of people, most posting anonymously, and who, frankly, tend to simply shout down or ridicule any opposing view. Commonly, our comments sections are filled with vitriol, personal attacks, profanity, and angry and hateful speech — and worse, unfortunately.

That is not acceptable.

You, our readers, local leaders, officials and everyday citizens speaking to us as sources for a variety of issues deserve better.

So we are turning off the comments.

Will we consider ever bringing comments back?

Perhaps.

We will continue to evaluate new story commenting services that are attempting to leverage technology to improve the quality of comments. We also will continue to evaluate our capabilities to better manage commenting.

Is this a move to simply censor speech?

No.

We still want to hear from you and will continue to afford readers a wide variety of options for voicing their opinions.

For example, to give us feedback on this decision about putting story comments on hiatus, email feedback@dailycamera.com

And here are some of the many other ways to reach us:

• Corrections: If you see a factual error, email us at corrections@dailycamera.com, complete the form at dailycamera.com/corrections or call 303-473-1350.

• News tips: Have a story idea? Email us at newsroom@dailycamera.com or call 303-473-1350.

• Letters to the editor and guest opinions afford you avenues to have your opinion heard, although be aware they each have different sets of guidelines and length limits. The guidelines are available at our submission page at dailycamera.com/submit. To submit either a letter or guest opinion, email openforum@dailycamera.com.

• Contact a reporter or editor: You can contact individual staffers directly and all our staff contact information and email addresses are available at dailycamera.com/contact-us

There are also a host of other ways to reach us and submit items for consideration — calendar items, milestones like weddings and engagements, business promotions and awards, 15-second pitches, good news and honors items, etc., etc. For information about such submissions, visit dailycamera.com/submit.

— Kevin Kaufman, executive editor