This is my favorite comment on all our stories about the right-to-work bills that raced through the Michigan government like the Millenium Falcon blasting between star systems.

It's by SheltonImaging, as his handle goes.

"Governor Snyder has made a huge blunder. The Democrats could get Bubbles the Chimp and Jar Jar Binks elected in 2014."

Perhaps the least liked character in film history, hmm, could he be more popular than ole what's his name?

My, my, how the commenters at TheOaklandPress.com love to argue with one another sometimes.

Here's a new favorite:

"While your at it professor maybe you could take some spelling lessons. It is spelled QUIT no QUITE Moron." It's from Fruity Ragtree.

So who's the moron?

Hehe, well, I won't call someone a moron for misspelling something but I will address them as such for calling someone else a moron for misspelling something and then misspelling something themselves. What?

Anyhow, I can call people morons here, but I don't watch so closely for my spelling as, well, I'm busy.

But I don't tolerate calling each other morons or other names on our website, and I do get to determine what stays and goes.

I've wanted this for a long time. Registration for comments has finally arrived and it was added to our web site just this afternoon. Yes, I hope it will clean up what is said and improve the tone of what people will have to offer.

But that's not why I wanted this. Instead, I wanted better organization within our comments. You readers care about stories and many people are angry about what's happening, whether it is in Washington, D.C., or Rochester Hills or within your child's school. That's why you're reading news about the subject; you care!

Readers are savvy, though, and they sometimes used others' preferred user names to post opposing points of view. That rankled you guys, I've seen and heard.

We here at The Oakland Press want to interact with our readers, too. The story no longer starts and stops with us. It can start with a question from us, and our commenters can provide answers to get a story rolling. The story can expand after it is published, based on what people are saying. This is the hope of our new top boss, Journal Register Company CEO John Paton.

By having registered commenters, we can now better participate in the back and forth with readers, and we will know who is saying what.

We've not changed due to any particular story or issue. I had a nice conversation about Taxpayer, who expressed a concern many felt that this stemmed from a particular issue. I've commented on that story. This has been debated at length and we've decided to give it a try.

I know many won't register because it requires signing up. There's a strong tradition of anonymous commentary in this country. It can continue.

But as much as some people don't want to sign up, many more, I believe, do wish to be heard. You see that on Facebook and Twitter.

On our registration, we need an email address and your estimated age (year of birth; you can't be under 13) to go along with your user name (which we call MEMBER ID).

Join the conversation. Share your thoughts, your opinion, your insight.

Oh, and sign up and get a good user name before it's taken.

Wow. That was quick. It only took a few hours for L. Brooks Patterson to back down from his threat to sue the state over its impending ban on public smoking. Early on Thursday, Patterson said Oakland County would not enforce the ban.
By 4 p.m., Patterson had backed down, so quickly that our reporter was editing video from Patterson's Democratic counterpart on the county commission.
That shows just how quickly news and public opinion can be delivered. No more waiting two or three days to see how a proposal sounds. You can find out instantly.
And our readers responded forcefully, commenting furiously and mostly against Patterson.
The longtime county executive and former tough-on-crime prosecutor was stuck in the details and nuances, arguing that this new law was an unfunded mandate and the county's Health Division could never enforce it. In fact, he's a nonsmoker and supports the ban. Oh, but he stepped into it, probably hoping that anti-tax furor could help this effort.
What readers and listeners of radio today heard was a Republican saying he wasn't going to follow a law he didn't like. Ouch. It was like saying, We're not going to enforce drunken driving.
Just two years ago, polls we ran showed about 60 percent of readers were against smoking bans. Then last year, it evened out, and this winter, nearly 60 percent favored the ban.
Today, so far, and it's very early, more than 80 percent said the county should enforce the ban.
People are ready, and they were quick to respond. Luckily, some politicians are still smart enough to listen.

We constantly debate our policy on allowing online comments with our stories. Currently, we rely on readers to report abuse and we do not require registration nor do we pre-monitor the comments before they are posted.
But a New York Times article sheds light on the fact that many papers are revisiting their policies.
That is refreshing because I don't see an easy answer to the problem. Too much registration (asking for phone numbers and such) will turn people away.
We want to provide an open forum for people to say what is on their minds. And you can see how people really feel about something by the comments. Often, though, it can be ugly.
Out of the muck, I've seen many good things: information coming out from breaking stories, insight into how the community feels about a topic (oh, smoking in public places, I never knew you were such a hot subject), heartfelt condolences over losses, anxieties about economy and the impact on families' lives, and how residents in one area feel about other areas.
Too often, though, it can be racist and crude. And those commenters will either drive away people seeking thoughtful insight and healthy debate OR they will drive away the open forum.
So let's see where this goes and I'll continue to explore what we can do to improve this.
Oh, and I love the concept of ranking comments by the insight and thoughtfulness of the commenter, as the Washington Post is exploring. Like Facebook and Twitter, it will certainly encourage healthy debate. Hooray for technology.
These are not going away, so it is our job to make sure it's done as well as possible, and readers are now part of the stories. We can't change that; we shouldn't change that. But we'll encourage it by giving them a better, and easier, way to participate.