Note from the Publisher: Guest Comments Are Dead

Note: Almost all of the content in this post was stolen with permission from Gothamist editor Jake Dobkin.

Hey Everyone-- as part of our continuing efforts to make Phillyist a friendly and reasonably polite place, we've eliminated "guest" comments on our posts. This means that to comment on the site, all users will need to complete a short registration process.

We've decided to do this because the vast majority of bad behavior (trolling, spamming, incivility, etc.) seem to come from the guests. That's not surprising: as many internet pundits have observed, total anonymity seems to make even the nicest person act totally insane.

A note about privacy: the new system does require a working email address to complete registration. It does not require you to share your real name, or any other information about you. Phillyist will not sell your email address to third parties.

Registration on the new system is fast and easy-- you can do it here. And once you register you get a nifty profile page, showing all of your previous Phillyist activity. You can also select an "avatar" which will show up whenever you comment.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the comments system. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments on this post, or in email.