<table> </table> For years, readers have been vexed by the commenting system on <em>The Kansas City Star&#8217;s </em>Web site, KansasCity.com. A reader put it succinctly last summer: &#8220;What is wrong with people?&#8221;</p><p>She was referring specifically to several posts anonymous users had made on a story about a teenage girl who had died in a car accident. The comments were almost literally unbelievable, including rank speculation about the cause of the wreck and even ad hominem attacks on the girl&#8217;s personal character.</p><p>&#8220;Why does <em>The Star </em>allow things like this to show up on the newspaper&#8217;s own Web site?&#8221; asked a typical caller last month. &#8220;I believe that this kind of conduct reflects very badly on <em>The Kansas City Star</em>, and also on the entire Kansas City readership as a whole. I think you need to find a way to fix it.&#8221;</p><p>So it&#8217;s not surprising that I&#8217;ve been hearing thanks ever since KansasCity.com&#8217;s recent redesign, which included a new feature that requires users to register before posting comments. Before, anyone could leave a remark using any name they wished and without registration. Users now have to create a free account connected to a valid e-mail address.</p><p>Obviously, it&#8217;s still easy for people to create false identities, but other Web sites long ago discovered that the extra level of verification cuts down the Internet &#8220;trolls&#8221; drastically.</p><p>As with the old system, users can flag potentially offensive comments for a Web editor to consider for deletion. Those reviewers have a pretty high bar, and rightly so. After all, free speech is a core right in this nation, and nobody benefits from it more than journalists. But that doesn&#8217;t mean that <em>The Star</em>, a private business, doesn&#8217;t serve the reader community by occasionally removing some of the moronic and racist nonsense that a small minority posts.</p><p>There&#8217;s also a feature that lets others &#8220;recommend&#8221; a comment. That&#8217;s a good way for the community to reward insightful posts. It would also be great to let users &#8220;ignore&#8221; individuals, or sort replies by most-recommended first. I&#8217;d also like to see a personal &#8220;ignore&#8221; button to make bothersome posters invisible. The commenting software comes from an outside company, so <em>The Star </em>can&#8217;t simply flip a switch to institute these features &#8212; but they might be possible in the future.</p><p>User-generated content is a great addition to traditional journalism. Obviously, readers keep me busy with an impressive array of error catches and thoughtful observations about fairness. I&#8217;m glad the new commenting system is cutting down on a constant annoyance to KansasCity.com&#8217;s most thoughtful users.