We’re always trying to improve here at The Oregonian/OregonLive. And we have what I believe is a major improvement to announce.

We’re eliminating the comments sections on OregonLive next week. The ability to post new comments will be turned off Jan. 2, and existing comments will disappear.

Is that a cheer I hear, or a jeer? I think most readers will be cheering, but I acknowledge some are passionate about the ability to comment. But we know that of an average of 7.5 million visitors each month to OregonLive each year, only a tiny fraction comment or read the comments.

So why are we making this change? Our New Year’s resolution is to improve the experience on OregonLive for most readers and to provide better opportunities for readers’ voices to be heard.

In short, we want to raise the quality of the conversations between our newsroom and our readers.

We are committed to this goal. In the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out new ways to share your opinions and comments. That will help inform us about the best way to continue to hear from readers – your story ideas, criticisms, corrections and occasionally compliments.

Readers can connect with each other on news of the day and sports events on our Facebook pages. We have dedicated pages for news, sports, even gardeners, where readers already engage in robust conversations. My email address is also in the newspaper daily.

We also have many avenues for you to reach us or to discuss issues of the day with other readers. You can click on any reporter’s byline on OregonLive and send an email. We have a Contact Us section at the bottom of the home page on our site and on the second page of the newspaper each day.

Before I explain further, I would like to thank the many commenters who have contributed greatly to our site and the conversations on it. As I mentioned, some people are passionate about commenting.

Columnist Samantha Swindler in 2016 wrote about a reader who went by the moniker “merwinwfinzork.” That year he had posted 15,739 comments on OregonLive. “That’s an average of 43 a day, and it makes him the site’s most prolific commenter,” Swindler wrote.

Why did he do it? “The vibrancy of public dialogue is important, (the commenter) said, because, as a democracy, ‘that’s how we figure things out.’”

The Oregonian/OregonLive is a strong defender of free speech. OregonLive evolved from a site that had dozens of reader forums to primarily a news and information website, where you had to decide to click on comments to read them.

But let’s face it, the comments section can be a difficult place to have a rational conversation. Personal attacks and insults are far too common. We do have a moderation service, but with the volume of comments it is hard to stay on top of them. Our time is better spent on our core mission: public service journalism.

We’re not alone in making this choice. Other mainstream news sites, such as npr.org (National Public Radio), have eliminated comments. Others, such as nytimes.com, heavily moderate comments, which is expensive and time consuming.

Other sites have mentioned similar reasoning for shutting off comments: comments served a purpose before readers had so many other ways to reach journalists, and the often-toxic tone of the comments created a bad experience for readers. We also heard from sources who sometimes declined to take part in news coverage because of the way commenters passed judgment or criticized our subjects.

I recall a 2011 article that made me wince. Before federal judge Marco Hernandez swore in his replacement to the circuit court bench, Janelle Wipper, he had a few words to share on judicial independence, the article said. “The biggest threat, he said, are blog posts written about the decisions judges make.”

He mentioned a post on OregonLive, announcing Wipper's appointment. “And then comes the comments,” he said, “and this is the part I'm telling you to ignore."

Some readers will agree, and others highly valued the ability to share their thoughts. This is a significant change in the evolution of OregonLive. We firmly believe we will offer a better experience for our readers in 2020. I hope you agree.

Therese Bottomly is editor and vice president of content for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at tbottomly@oregonian.com or 503-221-8434. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.