Hi everyone,
 
As you may know, we are making an effort to be transparent in our decision-making about the management of our community on cbcnews.ca. We are doing this by providing you with periodic updates on the decisions we make regarding commentary on our site.
 
As we listen to the conversations happening across our site, we realize the Connor and Jayden McConnell story has raised questions about decisions we have made at certain moments to leave story comments open and closed to submissions.

Why did we arrive at our decisions on these  stories?
 
On Feb. 2, commentary on stories dealing with this case began to move from speculation to categorical condemnations and pronouncements of guilt. This is not the kind of constructive dialogue we want to foster in this space and so, on that day, commentary was closed.

Hi everyone,

We've received feedback from the community asking why we closed commenting on stories related to Col. Russell Williams.

The Your Voice team put your questions to our Executive Editor of News, Esther Enkin, and here is her response:

Since we launched our comments section in March 2008, you have embraced our invitation to make this space yours, a place where you can express your opinions on the events of the day and share your views with others.
 
We now have a community in the hundreds of thousands and, as you've come to feel more at home on our site, often times you ask us why we make the decisions we do. In particular, regarding when commentary is allowed to continue on certain stories or when it is closed.
 
Most recently, we've heard from you about our decision to first allow commentary, and then close it, on stories related to Col. Russell Williams. Let us explain why we did what we did. .