Many of you have sent ideas and suggestions for improving staradvertiser.com. We appreciate all the feedback and are constantly taking it into account as we work on the site.

One of your more consistent comments is about comments; specifically the need for improvement in our commenting system.

We heard you.

That’s why, starting today, we’re updating our site to include the Civil Comments system.

We hope it makes the staradvertiser.com forums, well, more civil.

Here’s how it works:

When you submit a comment, you’ll be asked to quickly rate two randomly selected comments, answering two questions: “Is this a good comment?” and “Is this comment civil?” Then you’ll be asked to rate your own comment.

That’s it.

Once posted, your comment will be reviewed by others and by the Civil Comments algorithm. Readers can also flag inappropriate comments.

With this change, we aren’t looking to alter or suppress opinions in any way. On the contrary; we hope the new system encourages even more debate and wide-ranging opinions.

Civil Comments tells us their system doesn’t create echo chambers, changing only the tone in which opinions are expressed.

We think that’s a good thing, and based on your feedback, we think you’ll agree.

We hope to see you in the comment forums, and we look forward to hearing about your experience.

Adam Sparks is Digital Editor at the Star-Advertiser. Email him at asparks@staradvertiser.com