Almost everyone agrees: online comments need to be better than they are. But improving them is a major challenge.

My colleagues and I on the ethics committee at the Canadian Association of Journalists realized last year that — in Canada at least — we didn’t even have a comprehensive statement on the basics.

What are the essentials of a fair online comment system?

We believe news organizations have an obligation to provide a clear and transparent environment for online comments — one that explicitly shows the user  how and why their comments are being used.

Here’s our report on online comment moderation and an introduction on J-Source by our committee chair, Ellen van Wageningen.