Rise and Shine --- Welcome to the comment desk

Good Morning and welcome back to Wednesday!

Ever since we've added the ability to put comments on the end of our online stories, there's been a battle.
For the first few months, every comment had to be approved before it was posted. That time-consuming edict was changed so every comment could be posted immediately after the commenter registered.
Are there still too many racist and hateful comments? Sure. There are nasty people all over the place. There are people who like to spew hate just because they have nothing better to do.
On the flip side, there are many more who offer insiteful comments to the news of the day and actually add to the coverage. The story of the family who was nearly homeless after losing everything to an apartment fire was one such case. The community came out and helped. A story like that opens the eyes to the struggles of everybody else around us. I believe many other families received help after that story was posted (and the comments added) even if their story wasn't told.
The comments are still monitored throughout the day. Ones with racist overtones are taken off. If somebody hits the 'Report Abuse' button, the comments are checked.
While this is an area for free talk, there's no reason to offend. That has led to several of those who registered to be banned. Here's the deal, after three strikes (read racist or hateful comments) you get banned.
Much like the health care debate, we need healthy debate. What we don't need is uniformed yelling.
Or something like that.