T-Squared: We’re improving comments because we value your input

As a newsroom dedicated to covering politics and policy for all Texans, we take pride in a mission statement that makes engaging with our readers as important as informing them.

That’s why we’re proud to share a new commenting experience that improves our readers’ ability to engage with our journalists and each other, powered by the Coral Project’s open-source commenting platform, Talk. As of today, texastribune.org visitors will be invited to post comments on our stories through our new system by registering for a Texas Tribune account.

Here’s what you can expect from the new system:

• Community guidelines that lay out our goals for civil discourse
• The ability for you to reply to specific comments, and sort comments chronologically or by replies
• The ability for you to review your comment history
• Badges that identify our staff and, eventually, other members of the Tribune community
• Moderation tools that make it easier for us to weed out bad behavior
• A mute button that lets you ignore posts from specific users (everybody needs a break sometimes!)

We like to think of comments as an extension of our events series, which allows members of the public to gather in person to hear from elected officials, experts and others on the policy issues that matter most to them. These events are successful because participants abide by a basic code of respect and civility that enables us to promote diverse perspectives in a constructive environment.

We hope — with your help — to replicate that kind of quality civic engagement through the comments on our own pages.

You can get started by creating a Texas Tribune account today, checking out our community guidelines, and letting us know what you think of the changes. Drop a comment below or send us an email at community@texastribune.org.

Finally, a shout-out to the Texas Tribune team that's been working hard to bring you all of these improvements: Emily Yount, Andrew Gibson, Sarah Glen, Jonathan Solano, Liam Andrew, Rodney Gibbs, Ty Brockhoeft, Val Asensio, Jenny Ajluni, Emily Albracht and Ben Hasson.