Welcome to a community space
Tell us your story, be a part of the conversation. In an effort to keep our online space safe and inclusive, we ask participants to follow our Submission Guidelines.
Getting Started
To participate in the CBC comments section, you first need to sign in to an existing CBC account or create a CBC account.
On CBC.ca, navigate to the top right corner. Select the “Sign In” button.
You will be prompted to continue your sign-in process or to create a new account. Please note that we ask everyone to use their real name and do not permit pseudonyms. You will be asked to verify your e-mail address as part of the sign-up process.
Submitting a comment
To join the conversation, you can type your comment in the main comment text box, then select the POST button. Or you can reply to someone else's comment by clicking REPLY to open a reply text box, where you can type a comment and then select the POST button.
Please note that it’s not possible to edit or delete your comment after it has been submitted, so double-check it before you hit POST.
What happens next?
Your comment is reviewed (moderated) according to the Submission Guidelines. CBC selects the type of moderation that best suits the community and topic. Sometimes this means your comment may not be published immediately and you will see a label on your comment - "AWAITING APPROVAL" (see image below). We try to review comments as quickly as possible but the process can take up to 30 minutes or longer.
If your comment is approved and made publicly visible, the "AWAITING APPROVAL" label disappears. If your comment is rejected (not publicly visible), the "AWAITING APPROVAL" label is replaced with a “CONTENT DEACTIVATED” label.
Some common Guideline violations are personal attacks, insults, defamatory statements, and straying off topic.
Notifications
A red dot with a number will appear beside the bell icon when someone likes or replies to your comment. Tap on the bell icon to view your notifications.
Alternatively, you can choose to receive notifications via email. This feature can be enabled on your CBC Account Centre page.
Following, Reporting, and Muting commenters
Follow other commenters to receive notifications whenever they post a comment. Select the commenter’s name or avatar, then select the FOLLOW button.
If you see a comment that’s not in line with the Submission Guidelines, you can let us know by selecting the REPORT icon. This will alert our moderation team for further review.
If you want to hide someone’s comments completely from your view, select the person’s name or avatar, then select the MUTE button. You can mute up to 200 commenters. Muting a commenter will also block them from following you.
Finding Conversations
Comments are available on CBC.ca, but not on the CBC News app. As you browse CBC.ca, to find articles with comments open look for the blue comment icon beside the headline.
CBC editorial staff select when and where our audience members can engage in conversation on all our community spaces. Online, we consider many things before deciding whether to open comments or not, including the type of moderation needed and the resources required to moderate, as well as legal issues (i.e. publication bans), etc.