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Cat, as you know, I've been reading this website for about a year, and I've often wondered how the Beacon could allow such a free-for-all on its comment boards. I also imagine the Beacon staff thinks they'll address these issues by imposing a paywall, but a paywall by itself won't accomplish that.

What the site has been lacking (except in the worst cases) is moderation of comments -- meaning, instead of waiting until there are 100+ comments dominated by two or three angry people, the editors should be reviewing the comments as they are submitted.

They should also expect and prepare for some commenters to howl about what they think the First Amendment means -- except the Beacon isn't Congress, and as the owners of the website they have every right to decide what's appropriate to be on it, including comments from people who decide to use it. The First Amendment doesn't force newspapers to let people say anything they want on a privately owned website.

I'm going to wait and see how much the Beacon is asking, and whether they plan to be proactive about moderating comments, before I make any commitment to pay.