Starting Friday, readers of The Daily Californian will be able to comment on our online content through Facebook.

The Facebook Comments Box will replace Disqus, our current commenting platform, which we implemented in spring 2011 when we switched our website to a WordPress content management system.

The new system requires commenters to sign in using their Facebook accounts or an account with Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail. Those without any of these accounts will not be able to leave comments. Posting comments to one’s own Facebook page is an option, but it is not required.

In recent years, other news outlets, including The Dallas Morning News, TechCrunch, The Business Journals and the Los Angeles Times blogs, have made the move to Facebook to provide better authentication of comments and encourage more civility in discussions.

We are making this change in an effort to ease the difficult process of moderating comments and to foster a more honest discussion in the commenting section of the Daily Cal.

We have always encouraged readers to post under their real names, but in practice, many readers hide behind pseudonyms while posting mean-spirited or profane comments. We hope this change will improve the quality of discussion and discourage anonymous “trolls” from leaving often hostile or off-topic comments.

We encourage discussion, but we hope that our commenters act with respect and caution when voicing their opinions on various topics.

Still, we will continue to monitor comments on all articles and will remove any comments we deem in violation of our Comment Policy, which one can find at the top of the comment section on every article and on our about page.

Previous comments made through Disqus will appear below the live comment section.

As we continue to work on improving the reader experience of the Daily Cal online, we welcome your feedback and any questions you may have as we move forward.