Saturday, 1st September, 2012
Missing listing
It seems that one of the simple features of the Western Telegraph’s website that offers a snapshot of the news stories that matter most to the county’s readers, has gone missing.
As you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you like to hear the opinions of others, and I do too, which is why I allow comments to be made on my posts. Most of the articles that make it to the website of the Western Telegraph allow comments to be made too, and this feature is put to good use by its readers who’ve used it over the years to append some classic entries. Whether it’s additional information, clever humorous observations or scathing criticisms, the reader-comments frequently add value to the stories, or failing that – raise a titter.
In the middle column of the website is a section titled ‘Most popular,’ which contains listings of the most popular news stories determined by different factors which have sub-headings. My favourite sub-heading is: ‘most commented.’ As the name suggests, the most commented sub-heading is a basic compilation of around six articles which have attracted the most reader-comments, the number of comments in brackets, and a link to the article. I have found it to be a reliable way of bypassing the non-newsy stuff and cutting straight to the most popular or unpopular stories in the county.
A few weeks ago I happened to notice that the ‘most commented’ listing was cut down to two or three stories. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now the list doesn’t appear at all. The other listings on the homepage under the ‘most popular’ heading are still there, including the ten most read articles, the six most recent articles, and the five most shared articles.
As far as I can gather there has been no change to the reader-comments feature, it’s only the ‘most commented’ section on the homepage that’s disappeared. I do hope it’s a technical thing and will make a return. It’s a good feature as it highlights the most talked about stories in the area, at a glance.
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Perhaps they are afraid of being sued or if too many people slag off PCC they might lose their advertising. Who knows?
I can see that the ‘most commented’ section is now back up, though it’s only showing one article in the list.
I suspect the Pembrokeshire folk found themselves with a lack of things to grumble about in August.
August also happens to be a recess for many parts of Pembrokeshire County Council. Coincidence? You decide!
It’s very frustrating that WT often choose to not have the comments option enabled on some of the more interesting stories, especially articles relating to local politics. Each person is responsible for their own posts so anything written surely can’t get the WT itself into trouble?
I suspect that the 35,000 column centimetres of advertising that PCC put through Newsquest has something to do with the willingness of the Haverfordwestern Telegraph to look the other way.
The universally low view of the Cabinet is expressed here: http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/county/9904791.Care_home_s_angry_response_to_council_recycling_facility_claims/
It must come as quite a shock to those who are used to their public utterances being treated as though they are the word, the truth and the light.