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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 11 ,2 02 2 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Neil Oliver Vice President, Content, Community and Operations Dana Robbins Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar Advertising Representatives Fran Hendry, Katrina Anderson, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Cassandra Dellow, Zaid Shahabuddin, Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Loraine Centeno News Editor Ned Bekavac Reporter Bill Jackson Director Creative Services Katherine Porcheron CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 219 Labrador Dr. Suite 203, Waterloo, On., N2K 4M8 Phone: 519-886-2830 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This article is part of that project. A few weeks ago, we de- livered the good news: we've taken down the regis- tration wall so now you can access our articles without having to sign in or regis- ter. This was good news both for our readers and us too who have been working hard to deliver important news right away. In the days since, we have received inquiries from readers who have in the past years had trouble signing in, or were being asked to sign in multiple times, and while we tried our best to troubleshoot these issues, we know that for some, ac- cessing our articles through Facebook was challen- ging. There have been is- sues (not just with our sites but with other sites too) with how Facebook redi- rects readers to websites. This also happens when patches for updates are not installed, or when brows- ers don't get updated regu- larly. All in all, there was a host of technical issues out of our newsrooms' hands causing some sign-in prob- lems. So, imagine our relief when we found out that the sign-in wall for our sites was being taken down. To shed some light and answer questions for those continuing to experience issues accessing our jour- nalism, we've created a helpful list of FAQs to help you better understand the changes to our sites. WHAT IS THIS POP-UP I KEEP SEEING THAT READS "SUBSCRIBE TO OUR 70 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ONLINE?" The pop-up you see when you go to our site is just an alert that gives you the option to subscribe to our papers' e-editions; it gives you access to the PDF version of all of Metro- land's print papers. You can subscribe if you want to get access to our e- editions instead of reading our articles on the site. If not, you can simply click "x" on the upper right cor- ner of the pop-up so you can go straight to our web- site without having to sign in or register. WHY AM I STILL SEEING A SIGN-IN OR REGISTRATION BAR ON THE TOP OF MY PAGE? For certain browsers, the registration or "sign- in" bar is still visible. Please disregard this for now. This will be sorted out by our tech team soon. You can continue to access our articles without having to sign in or register. DO I STILL HAVE TO SIGN UP TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR? Via the website, yes. To do certain tasks on the site, like adding events to our calendar, uploading arti- cles, or sending letters, you will still need a free ac- count and will be asked to sign in. Of course, you can always email a letter to the newsroom. I CAN READ SOME ARTI- CLES WITHOUT SIGNING IN BUT HAVE HAD TO SIGN IN TO READ A FEW OTHERS, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? The registration wall has been taken down for all of Metroland's community sites. But from time to time, articles from our net- work, especially from our dailies like the Toronto Star or the Waterloo Re- gion Network, would flow to our sites as well. For some articles that come from our dailies and that require a subscription to access, you will still need your Torstar log-in creden- tials to access them. If you think you are still having issues with your ac- cess or have other con- cerns about these changes that we haven't covered here, you can contact cus- tomer service at Custo- merService@metro- land.com or visit our social media pages and drop us a message so we can try and help you sort this out. We welcome your ques- tions and value your com- ments. Email our trust committee at trust@metro- land.com. Loraine Balita-Centeno is a journalist and editor with the Waterloo Chron- icle, Cambridge Times, New Hamburg Indepen- dent and Guelph Mercury Tribune. She recently re- ceived the Ontario Commu- nity Newspaper Associa- tion second place award for columnist of the year for her columns on di- versity, equity and in- clusion. NO MORE SIGNING IN TO OUR SITE: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? LORAINE BALITA-CENTENO Column "You're going to miss me when I move out," my daughter would say when I would tease her about the fact that she was still living in our basement in her ear- ly 20s. "Be careful what you wish for." I left home at 18 like I was shot out of cannon. My fami- ly situation was complicat- ed -- both my mother and father have been divorced three times -- and that made for something of a no- madic childhood. Everyone was loving and supportive so I'm not complaining (much) but there wasn't a big difference between shut- tling between various plac- es and living on my own. By contrast, our crew of four have lived in the same suburban shack for almost 20 years so my kids have had a very different experi- ence. When we turned the basement into what amounts to a studio apart- ment (sans kitchen) the el- dest didn't exactly have much reason to make a hasty exit, what with the free room and board. Plus, you know, the global pandemic. In her de- fence, my kid would have likely shuttled off to resi- dence for her first year of university, only to see CO- VID wreck those plans with impunity. Quite hon- estly, having the kids un- der my roof felt like the saf- est place for them and giv- en that I like having them around (most of the time) it hardly felt like a burden. As life slowly returned to normal, she got restless and I got increasingly grumpy about housing and feeding someone who was, theoreti- cally, perfectly capable of doing it herself. My wife and I have planned and saved with the hopes that our kids will start their professional lives as close to debt free as possible, so it's not about the money as much as the prin- ciple of the thing. It was just time for everyone to get on with the next phase of their lives. So, a couple of weekends ago, we packed up the cars and moved the vast major- ity of her things to her new place in Ottawa. She's mov- ing in with her girlfriend and a friend while working part-time and taking clas- ses online in the fall. The place is kinda run down, in a moderately sketchy neighbourhood, and also perfectly fine: it is age and circumstance appropriate. We returned to a home forever changed. My 16- year-old son moved from his room upstairs -- the on- ly room he's ever known -- to his sister's old place in the basement while we were away. In addition to the physical changes, the energy and dynamic is now so, so different. I kept it together pretty good through most of it: I'm good at compartmentaliz- ing things and focusing on the practical. I also didn't want to lay whatever sad dad feelings I was having on her. But when I got home, I sent her a text. "You were right: I am sad. But mostly so proud of you and happy that you've taken this next step. It feels right. I'm sure it's scary and that's OK: you're ready. I will be here to support you at any time, in any way you need. You're a big girl now. But still my little girl. I love you always. Dad." Drew Edwards of Guelph may or may not be dripping tears onto his keyboard while writing this. He can be reached at drew@drewedwards.ca. MY DAUGHTER WAS RIGHT, I DO MISS HER NOW THAT SHE'S MOVED OUT DREW EDWARDS Column