If we ask you for a favorite comments platform, will you be able to name one, or will your answer be "I hate them all -- including yours?" Folks at The New York Times and Washington Post believe they can make one better than the current options. So, they teamed up with Mozilla to make an open-source comments platform that newsrooms everywhere will be able download and use for free. The organizations claim it's actually more like a "publishing platform for readers" than a comments system: users will be able to submit links, pictures and other media, as well as manage their online identities and track their contributions. They also mentioned that publications can use submitted content "for other forms of storytelling and to spark ongoing discussions," though they didn't expound on what that means exactly. Sadly, you'll have to wait a while to find out and take the platform for a spin, as the companies expect to spend two years to complete the project.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]