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Reader comments

When you read The Post and Courier online now, you are given an opportunity to comment on local stories. Some stories don't draw any comments. Some are drawing some spirited online conversations. You might check www.charleston.net and look at stories about firefighting techniques and about sprinkler systems for some good examples.

The idea makes some newspaper folks a little nervous. What do you do if remarks are inappropriate? The staff checks in on the comments as regularly as possible, but an offensive comment could be posted and stay up for some time before it is removed.

Another concern is whether readers can discern the difference between information at charleston.net that has been generated by and vetted by The Post and Courier and information that is sent in by readers. I'm no computer wiz, and I can tell the differenece.

I think it's an experiment worth trying. Readers bring some interesting insights to issues -- and often reveal new information for reporters to follow. It's worth risking the occasional comment that needs to be removed.

JonBenet

When police arrested John Karr in Thailand on suspicion of murder in the JonBenet Ramsey case, the story was on 1A in The Post and Courier. Followup stories have appeared in the paper every day since. Police said there were reasons to question Karr's involvement. Police had been intercepting his e-mails. Karr flew back to Los Angeles. People in Boulder are fed up with the media melee. And Karr agreed to return to Colorado.

Some people have questioned whether the media is overdoing this story. It's an old murder case. What's it doing on the front page, and why did it lead news broadcasts? Some hard-nosed news readers chafed at the attention this story has received -- particularly when the world is facing intense issues like war and global warming.

I admit I read every word of the stories. I was glad The Post and Courier put the story on the front for two days -- and glad it was moved inside on ensuing days. I would hope that the paper will refrain from JonBenet stories when there is nothing new to report but would keep readers abreast of the case as it develops.

Anyone think the paper has overplayed or underplayed the story so far?

What is it about Fridays?

Is there something I should know about Fridays?

On Monday morning, I almost always find a passel of email and phone messages from readers with comments about the weekend papers. Messages about the daily papers continue to come in throughout the week -- until Friday. On Friday, a regular workday for most people, I rarely hear more than a handful of moans from readers.

Is it because Friday papers tend to satisfy readers so completely that they have no suggestions for improvement?