I can’t count the number of times I’ve been out and about or spoken to groups where one of you -- or three, or 10 of you -- pull me aside to tell me how much you abhor the comments platform on cleveland.com because of its incivility.

The opposite never seems to happen, though. You’ve never pulled me aside to thank cleveland.com for providing a free forum for the robust exchange of thoughtful ideas. That free forum of ideas, of course, is what we wanted our commenting platform to be. It just has not worked out that way.

In cleveland.com’s 20-plus year history, comments have been our biggest flashpoint. Screening comments for personal attacks, profanity or off-topic remarks has become an increasing drain on newsroom resources. Despite the invested time, money and effort, we have failed to dampen pervasive meanness. It’s such a shame. We genuinely wanted the platform to work, because people have so few places to meet others with different viewpoints who want to discuss the topics we cover.

As a result, beginning Thursday, we will eliminate the ability to freely comment on every story on cleveland.com and will remove comments from old posts. We want our site to contribute to the greater good. It’s why we’ve cut way back on using mug shots that perpetuate racial stereotypes. It’s why we have been a leader with our Right to be Forgotten policy, in which we remove names from dated stories about embarrassing things people have done. Not hosting a place where a tiny number of people spew caustic nonsense is our latest step to make for a better Greater Cleveland community.

FAQ: Questions and answers about why we are ending them.

Let’s face it: The comments on our site do not reflect you. The people of Northeast Ohio are warm-hearted, generous and caring. When we are going about our days, we greet each other with smiles and hugs and good cheer. But anyone getting their impression of our region from comments on our site would think we are the grumpiest, meanest people in America.

We are not alone in taking this step. Other news sites have done so, and our sister sites throughout Advance Local are doing the same. We are part of a company with a proven record of fostering engagement and a desire to improve the civility of the communities we serve.

Despite this major change, we want to emphasize that we remain eager for your feedback. We have existing ways to do that, and as of today, we’re starting another.

Readers will still be able to comment on the many stories we post daily on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.

As always, you can click the byline on any story to email that reporter.

You can reach me at cquinn@cleveland.com

We’ve also just launched a new Subtext account, one that is free, in which you can message me directly. I’ll send a couple of texts a day to your phone to bring you inside our newsroom, to let you know what we are talking about, what questions we seek to answer. Consider it a preview of stories that will soon appear on our platforms. And the best part is that you can text me anytime, to let me know what’s on your mind. I’ll read every text I receive and respond to many.

Signing up is easy. Send a text to 216-868-4802.

In addition, we will continue the robust flow of letters to the editor and op-ed columns from the public. Letters publish every day online or in print editions of The Plain Dealer.

We want to thank the many people who contributed thoughtful comments on our stories over the years. We appreciate all the excellent story suggestions and news tips you provided. Your toughest criticisms are often well deserved and have made us a better news organization.

While many readers will no doubt cheer the end of comments on the website, we know a very small number of you will be dismayed. You see, a small percentage of people left comments on our content. We have more than 7.5 million devices connecting to our site in an average month, but just over 4,000 left a comment.

That works out to a tiny bit more than one tenth of one half of one percent.

Across all 11 Advance Local websites — which serve 50 million visitors in an average month — just 2,340 people produce more than half of the comments.

What those numbers mean is that an infinitesimally small group of readers has had a disproportionately negative impact on the tone of many of the conversations we host.

We are providing one last hurrah on the comments, though. I am leaving the comments open on this column until we shut all comments off Thursday morning, and we are going to be more relaxed about enforcing the rules. Colin Toke, the long-suffering steward of our commenting platform, and I will be responding at various points through the day. So have at it. Let us know what you think.

If you don’t wish to comment but have thoughts you wish to share, we also are collecting feedback through a survey, to help inform our engagement decisions down the road. Please consider taking a moment to participate.