This year, we’ve had to deliver mostly bad news. For Thanksgiving, we’d like to provide a more uplifting story. And we need your help.

We want to know what you’re thankful for this year. Now here’s the catch – we want you to tell us in six words. Only six words.

Along with your message, please include your name, age, what city you live in and send us a headshot.

We’ll run a complete list of the responses online and a sampling in the printed newspaper on Thanksgiving Day.

Send your responses by Friday, Nov. 21, to thanks@pilotonline.com.

Or mail to: Thanksgiving messages, c/o Niki Giacchina, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23508.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

A reminder to all readers that users who post comments on stories agree to abide by posting guidelines that can be read on this page:

http://hamptonroads.com/posting-guidelines

Note that we have added one new rule:

•    No disparaging comments about a victim or victim's family in a tragedy.

Why? Because too many users have responded to stories about traffic accidents by criticizing the actions or lifestyle of the person killed, or even their family members. PilotOnline.com and HamptonRoads.com will not tolerate such comments. They will be deleted, and the user will be subject to being permanently moderated or even blocked without notice.

Also, we have amended two rules:

•    NO POSTS IN ALL CAPS. No posts in bold or highlighted with other HTML coding.

Why? Because writing in all-capital letters is considered rude and "shouting" online, sometimes employed by users to draw attention to their comment over others' postings. We believe writing in bold serves the same purpose, trying to scream above other users. Again, comments written in this manner are subject to deletion.

•    No entries longer than 750 characters or continued in another posting. Content over that limit will be edited for length.

Why? Again, users too often try to dominate a comments string by posting multiple messages, continued from one to another. Again, we believe this is unfair. We will leave the first comment, but "continued" postings are subject to deletion. We acknowledge that it can be hard to tell when you have run over the 750-character limit. Our best guide at the moment: When you write a comment, contain it fully within the default text box provided. Comments at that length should fit fine.

If you see a comment that violates one of these or any other rule, please help us by flagging the comment. Note: To do this, you must be registered and logged into the site. Then just hit the "Flag this" link below the comment, and online producers will review the comment and remove it if it is in violation.

Any comments or questions on these rules, post them below or use this feedback form.

Thanks!

- The PilotOnline.com / HamptonRoads.com producers

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

Attention, budding journalists!

The 22nd Virginian-Pilot High School Diversity Journalism Workshop this summer will offer selected students the chance to learn about newspaper and online journalism and to write stories for the teen section. During the two weeks, students will learn how newspapers are put together, discover more about South Hampton Roads, and sharpen their skills as a journalist.

Click here to read more about the workshop and to download an application.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

Are you an expectant parent looking for day care? If so, The Virginian-Pilot wants to know what your experience has been like.

Contact education reporter Amy Jeter.

Phone: 446-2730

E-mail: amy.jeter@pilotonline.com

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

We received this message the other day from one of our readers at PilotOnline.com and HamptonRoads.com:

When I am unable to read your paper copy I like to visit your Web site. Unfortunately, I am finding the comments posted by some of your users to be rather crude and speculative.

The reason I am writing is to get an explanation as to why your paper / Web site allows users to comment. It is worth mentioning that when reading the letters to the editor, while I may not agree with the opinion, the letters have always been somewhat professional.

In general I (the reader) would prefer to only see your writers’ work (which undoubtedly requires many hours of research). I also can assure you that I am not the only one who feels this way; many of my friends and co-workers have made similar comments.

I ultimately wish you would just put an end to user comments and leave the writing to the professionals (your writers). Perhaps you could comment on this idea?

We would be happy to.

Our goal with reader comments is to harness the community’s knowledge and interact in ways that improve our journalism and readers’ understanding of the issues.

Occasionally, a post will illuminate another fact we should consider in our coverage of events. Many times readers with specialized knowledge point to a fact that makes our future coverage better.

Readers also provide another perspective. We try to get as much perspective as possible into all our stories, but, no matter how many viewpoints we report, there’s always someone who feels they haven’t been heard.

Finally, since we do believe in the First Amendment, we also want to provide a public forum for honest debate. We actually enjoy this form of interaction with our readers.

It is true that story comments occasionally devolve into an online brawl, especially with topics that have high emotional content. But this is generally the work of a handful of posters and doesn’t reflect the majority of our readers.

In the past, we have restrained this small group, but in our recent redesign we decided to back away from our role as moderators and let more posts appear without an editor’s review. It was our hope that the community would police itself.

We admit the results have been mixed so far. Few users are flagging offensive posts, but more are complaining about abusive behaviors. And we are concerned that this mean-spirited minority is keeping other voices from joining the conversation.

As a result, we are discussing several possible changes, including:

• Right now, we post all comments below our stories. We could post only selected comments that we feel represent a range of perspectives without being nasty or mean-spirited. We would provide a simple link to “All comments” in a separate area.

• We could allow users to turn all comments off. You could decide, as the reader above, that reader comments are not useful. If you’d rather concentrate on what The Pilot’s writers produce, just select “Comments off.”

• Or we could allow people to “vote” on posts, with the most highly rated posts rising to the top of the comments list.

We expect that some readers might respond negatively. Some might suggest even less monitoring by our staff. Some might suggest they have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want and people who don’t like a little nastiness should stay off the boards.

We can’t agree with that approach. We believe the boards should be friendly to everyone who wants to engage in a civil conversation.

That’s what we think. What do you think we could do to make this feature more valuable? 

You can respond by clicking "Add new comment" below or by sending an e-mail to fred.schecker@pilotonline.com.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

For those who asked after our recent redesign, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index is back in PilotOnline.com's stock market report.

Look for it on the homepage, under the Business headlines, and on the Business channel.

And don't forget to check our exclusive index of stocks of local interest in Hampton Roads.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

Hello, PilotOnline.com and HamptonRoads.com users.

Thanks for all your helpful feedback on Monday, the first day of the new content management system and design for our sites. We are busy working through your suggestions and implementing improvements that you will see in the days and weeks ahead.

One note: Some users of Internet Explorer on Monday encountered slow load times and page hangups due to a small problem we couldn't anticipate in the beta testing of the sites. That problem has been fixed, we believe, and you should now be finding smooth surfing across the sites. Also, a few users reported that they sometimes were not seeing a white background to the type. We believe that issue also has been resolved.

If you are still encountering either of these problems or any other, please report them to us through this feedback form. Please include in any feedback what type of computer you are using (PC or Apple, etc.) and what Web browser software you are using (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

Again, thanks for Monday's feedback. Keep it coming here.

-Mark Edelen, PilotOnline.com

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.

Welcome to the new PilotOnline.com.

What you have at your fingertips is the result of months of work by programmers, developers, producers and designers to create a cutting-edge Web site that gives you more of everything you’ve come to expect from PilotOnline.com and The Virginian-Pilot: more news, more video, more photography, and more ways to interact.

Plus, we’ve improved navigation across the site to get you to where you’re going faster, whether that’s Sports (now in the main navigation on every page); the great Entertainment and Lifestyles guides of HamptonRoads.com; the exclusive video of HamptonRoads.tv; or the Classifieds that help you find a home, a car, a job or a great money-saving deal.

You’ll find a full guide to all the new features and how to get the most out of them at this site. But here are just a few highlights:

- A bigger, bolder (and wider) site, optimized for today's higher resolution computer monitors.

- More breaking news from a growing team of dedicated online reporters, to keep you up to date around the clock. Breaking news alerts are sent by email and text.

- Quick access to related stories on similar topics or about the same city. Just check the “Posted to” and “More articles” links at the top and bottom of every story.

- More ways to save and share stories with your friends, family and co-workers though sites such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo. Look for the tools index on the right side of every story.

- More you. We’ve streamlined the process of posting story comments, built a new tool for uploading your news and community photos, and added user profile pages. And that’s just the start: More ways for you to interact with The Pilot and other users, and to personalize the site, are around the corner.

- More RSS feeds for countless topics and blogs, so you can get the news whenever, wherever and however you want.

- Photography, multimedia and other special features highlighted on the home page, bringing you a deeper and richer look at life around Hampton Roads. Related photos and videos also are now more easily accessed from stories across the site.

- Videos accessible right on the home page, in the HamptonRoads.tv player.

- Classified listings for jobs, homes, deals and autos searchable from the home page.

- An expanded site index on the bottom of every page.

The new PilotOnline.com is built around our users as participants, so we encourage you to login or register to gain the full benefits.

And, of course, we encourage you to give us your feedback.

Go here to rate and review the site.

In essence, we have given you, and ourselves, a new place for Hampton Roads to gather on the Web, along with new tools to build it.

We know we look forward to creating an even more useful, informative and exciting site in the days, months and years ahead. And we trust you will want to be a part of that future.

Enjoy!

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules. Comments do not reflect the views or approval of The Virginian-Pilot or this Web site. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment to alert an editor. Repeat offenders will be denied automatic posting privileges.