A note to our readers about web comments

Today we made a change to our website that's worth an explanation. We've discontinued our use of the online comment system.

The third-party provider of our comment interface has become less than useful for thoughtful communication among our diverse audience. Further, it now requires publication of advertising that reinforces negative body image and other values that we don't want to promote. It also doesn't require users to identify themselves, empowering trolling behavior and anonymous keyboard warriors.

So we're taking a break from bottom-of-the-story comments. (Most of you don't make them anyway.)

Please don't take this as a sign that we don't want to hear from you. We do, more so now than ever. And we commit to printing letters to the editor that arrive via email at editor@sfreporter.com or snail mail at 132 E Marcy St., Santa Fe, NM, 87501. Please keep them to 200 words and in response to issues we are writing about.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram at @sfreporter and on Twitter at @santafereporter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members via our contact page.

We continue to seek cost-effective alternatives that would enable civil and relevant engagements in the evolving digital realm. Have an idea about that? Let us hear from you.

Thanks for reading and for writing!