We’d like to share some important news about a move first announced in March and that we hope will have a positive effect on the conversations happening in our online spaces. Starting next week, all CBC.ca community members will be asked to use their real names when contributing to our sites.

On June 13, you will need to re-register and create a new account using a real name – even if you already use your full name to comment. There’s no action you can take now to prevent having to re-register.

How it’ll work

On June 13, at 10 a.m. ET, your old account will become dormant and you’ll no longer be able to access your profile. Resetting our community in this way allows us to preserve pseudonyms on comments you’ve made in the past. It also means we can implement new verification measures more consistently across all our platforms.

Once you’ve created your new profile, your name will be moderated, just as comments are. We will only accept comments for publication if they’re signed by a name that looks real. We’re also introducing email verification on all new accounts.

A fresh start 

This is just another step as we continue to evolve our digital communities; we welcome your constructive thoughts, ideas and feedback. Most importantly, we hope you’ll help lead and shape our new community. You can read more in this blog on how we’re building a better community and please check out the FAQs for more details.

Finally, we recognize that some of you won’t be pleased with our move to real names, but we’re hoping that the majority of you will see the value in promoting transparency within our online communities.

Alex Johnston
Vice-President, Strategy and Public Affairs