FLORIDA TODAY joins experiment to make conversations around stories better

We hear you.

Reading the public comments on floridatoday.com is often unpleasant. They can turn nasty fast. Sometimes, they're just plain irrelevant.

And yet, community engagement is critical and one of the most important goals we've set for ourselves at FLORIDA TODAY.

So, here's what we're going to do. Starting Monday, we'll be participating in an experiment. 

FLORIDA TODAY is joining with 23 news organizations across the USA TODAY Network to find a better way for you to have meaningful conversations around our content. During this experiment, run in partnership with the Center for Media Engagement and the Coral Project, some sites are experimenting with a new tool, some will continue business as usual, and others, like us, are turning our comments off for now.

We’ll track website data, reader feedback and more to help improve the conversations happening on our website.

Our goal isn’t to permanently end comments, nor is it to discourage feedback. We still want to hear from you and we’ll continue to welcome comments on our Facebook page and through letters to the editor.

We hope you’ll share your experience with us, too. Was commenting or reading the comments important to you? Are you more now more likely to participate in discussions on Facebook? If we bring comments back, what needs to change?

We want to hear from you. Email me at mbellaby@floridatoday.com