I've received many emails from readers wondering why comments haven't been allowed today on the Mille Lacs walleye-dumping column (see www.startribune.com/cluboutdoors and photo above) I wrote today.

The reason: The newspaper generally doesn't allow comments on stories involving crimes, as this one does.

Occasionally, a mistake is made and comments slip through on some crime stories. But that's not often the case.

To do otherwise, particularly in stories where allegations are made against people who haven't yet been tried, much less convicted, would be unfair.

It's also true that the comment option generally is turned off if comments made are racist or otherwise seem to disparage large groups of people. That's what happened earlier this week when I wrote a news story about netting at Mille Lacs this spring by eight Chippewa bands. Close to 100 comments were allowed before people who watch these things decided too many comments had turned too nasty.

You don't have to visit this site very often to determine that most of the time, anything goes, regarding comments, so long as they are fairly civil.

Agree or disagree, that's the newspaper's policy — and it's similar to policies in place at many other websites.