Madison Taylor

 OK, I wrote earlier this week that a new interactive feature would begin on our Web site that would alter how online comments are posted, create new blogging opportunities for our online audience, create virtual happiness among our critics, change the course of human history, find a suitable away out of Iraq, figure out a way to beat Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines and find some use for cranberries on days not related to Thanksgiving.

Yes, it sounded, well, impossible.

And so it is, at least for this week.

The launch of our new format has been delayed. I do not know exactly why – it just is.

But what I will do is put the whole deal in the words of movie character Barry Champlain, the protagonist of “Talk Radio,” a movie by Oliver Stone that starred Eric Bogosian. Here’s what shock jock host Barry Champlain told his audience after he was told minutes before going on the air that his show wouldn’t be going national as scheduled.

It’s classic.

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“I’ve just received some terrible news. Night Talk will not be broadcast nationally tonight…due to the usual corporate, big business, inefficiency, sloppiness and bureaucracy.I’ve just been informed of a scheduling problem. Nothing personal, nothing logical, just business as usual. Maybe the show will go national next week, maybe next month. No one seems to know.I’m sorry. I feel I’ve let you, the listeners, down.But I’ve been in this business long enough to know you can lose the battle… and still win the war.

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OK, so I’m not quite as angry as Barry Champlain.  He’s a fictional character after all. Nobody in real life could be that angry, unless it’s our very own Homegrown Snob.

Anyway, here’s a copy of the story I was set to publish tonight about our new system, which we’re told really will premiere next week. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I’ll reserve any future options on my breath 

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The words of another editor in our company speak volumes.

“Punctuation is back,” Jeff Thomas wrote in November when his newspaper began a new online system for logging comments on stories while also creating a virtual community.

We couldn’t say this any better ourselves.

This reference is aimed at online readers and commenters on TheTimesNews.com, the online edition of the Times-News. Many have expressed frustration with the commenting tool now in place which forbids question marks, semi-colons and quotation marks. The system was put in place to filter out spam, Web addresses and profanity.

(Next week) that changes. TheTimesNews.com introduces Community Voice, a new application online that offers visitors to our site the ability to blog, establish networks of “friends,” and comment on every item published on the website.

It’s a system built specifically for you, our readers. It’s meant to be interactive and engaging — the kind of place folks might like to hang around for awhile and swap ideas and debate.

The biggest change for current users will be in the comments function on our stories. Community Voice gives administrators of TheTimesNews.com better tools to banish those who hijack worthwhile discussion with venomous words, taunts, personal vendettas and racism. Those types of comments violate our user agreement  and under the old system the online community was considered the cops for wayward traffic.

Now we can do it ourselves and even ban repeat offenders. We can do it by requiring  registration that includes a valid e-mail address. You’ll need to sign up once, and then log in each time you return to  TheTimesNews.com if you want to use any Community Voice functions.

The whole point of online discussion is to debate the issues. We hope users enjoy our new format and will enjoy becoming part of our virtual community.

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We’ll try this again next week, promise.

A letter to folks who comment on Times-News stories posted on this Web site.
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First let me admit that I have a love-hate relationship with the posters or bloggers who populate the Times-News online. I love the traffic on our stories. Our page views have grown with the numbers of you who provide running commentary on stories ranging from the school budget to new developments in the case involving alleged moonshiner and sex offender. Many people drop in on our sites to see what you all have to say.
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Thanks.
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And let me say that such forums are great for opening venues for people to speak their minds. We appreciate any of you who have done so. Some of the posts have been thought-provoking, some downright provoking and others funnier than all get out.
But I’ll also say that I’ve at times been troubled by how far the comments go or how angry some posts may get. But so it goes.
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All of this is preface to a larger message: I wanted our online customers to know that a change is coming to our site this week that will alter how comments can be posted. Our corporation, Freedom Communications, Inc., is changing the supplier for the service that handles our online comments to one called SiteLife. We’ll probably come up with some other name for it later.
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The good news is SiteLife will make our site much more interactive overall. Readers will have the ability to create their own interactive community that would include blogs and photos they post themselves. Users, many of whom have already created alternate identities such as Amazed, Sheez or Unfair and Unbalanced can still do so but also maintain their own page and profile.
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Here’s what some might consider the bad news. The ability to comment on online news articles — a popular but controversial feature that has, at times, been abused — will also change. By requiring registration with SiteLife before users can post comments on articles, the Times-News will be able to restrict users who abuse the comments feature or violate the terms of its use.
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But we also know that many people resist signing in to make comments. If this is the case, then we hope you reconsider.
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You’ll be missed.