Editorial: Wanted names? Now join the talk

Published 8:41 am Tuesday, August 3, 2010

We invite local movers and shakers — from business leaders to city and county officials — to register at our new website and make comments.

Many of you told us you disliked the way users could make comments anonymously on the previous web platform for AlbertLeaTribune.com. We weighed your feedback against the input from people who liked it the way it was, many of whom were the day-to-day working people whose jobs prevent them from speaking their minds publicly.

We also weighed our hopes for good dialogue and the necessities of a new media.

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When the time came to rethink our website, we took the new direction. We opted for comment makers to be registered users with verifiable names. No one is anonymous.

However, for this to be successful, there will need to be clear results. There will need to be vibrant dialogue, like the old platform had, and that means the people who clamored for names next to comments need to follow through on their request and participate in the discussions.

Surely, many of the anonymous users will be OK using their real names now. But some of them won’t be, which will make for less talk. The loss of their participation hopefully will be offset by the people who sought real names.

We believe dialogue is good for the health of the community.

So please sign on. We are doing this for you.