This troll has been asked to flame elsewhere. Photo courtesy of Flickr user puuikibeach    Throughout the past year, we’ve been gratified to see many more respectful and intelligent conversations in the comment threads at TheNation.com. We’re grateful that more people have decided to participate and that many have worked to elevate the discussions. However, we think that we can do even better. Going forward, we’re honing our policy with the aim of fostering discussions that are smart, civil, engaged and on-topic. We won’t expect agreement or stray from controversy, but we expect a certain level of graciousness, which we’re going to work hard to nurture.

We’ve posted new community guidelines, which we hope you’ll read carefully. Basically, there are plenty of places on the Internet for off-topic ranting, vitriol and “anything goes” conversations. TheNation.com is not that place anymore. Instead, we will be moderating, editing and deleting comments more aggressively in order to cultivate a space for thoughtful conversation. We think that you’ll like the changes and that the new and improved comments will inspire even more of our smart, savvy readers to join the fray. Feel free to use the comments field below to discuss our new direction. You can also e-mail comments@thenation.com with any questions or concerns.