Copy of the letter send to the
feedback@theage.com.au
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Dear TheAge
I'm wondering if your site have a normal online forum(bbs) where people can post messages, that they don't expect to be placed officially in the newspaper comments&debate?
If not, perhaps it may be a good idea to create
a link which can only be accessed by weekly readers of the newspaper. This is though requiring newspaper readers to type in a weekly password from the actual physical newspaper itself, before they can post.
However to ensure that readers know about it, it's important that a link to the forum be placed and advertised in a places such as a small corner of the front page, or within the 'comments&debates'.
This feedback, or idea, came as a result of my reading of the article 'The slash and burn path will destroy some newspapers.' (tuesday october 7 2008), where Michael Gawenda argues on the importance of catering to the readership's interest of insightful articles that actively stimulate our minds. The problem with the fairfax management is that, its is often hard to associate a monetary value to the readership community. By having a forum consisting of only the readership of TheAge, it means the fairfax management has a more personal relationship to the actual readers themselves. It can be as simple as posting on the forum "What do you like about TheAge", "What do you think about including gloss&glam section".
Without out actively understanding its readers, they make run the risk of falling to a spiraling trap of 'cost cutting' which would futher drive away readers, and most impotainly revenues that comes through (numbers of reader * advertisement value & total rev from newspaper price) readership.
It is important to note that it really doesn't require much resources to set this up and running, as the moderation of the comments can be as simple as Digg (where bad comments are down voted and buried). The only valuable resources it will take is a small section of the newspaper, for placing the weekly password to access the readership forum.
Sincerely,
***** ****
p.s. Perhaps this email would be better forwarded to the editorial staff... However i do not know their email address.