The readers have spoken!

I wrote earlier this week that one thing I like about working with websites is how quickly the field is always changing, which forces you to be more responsive to reader comments.

Well, we've certainly gotten comments from our survey about whether readers liked having both a day and time listed when we show when our news stories get posted. 91 percent of those who answered our survey said they notice the posting date on decorahnews.com news stories and 72 percent wanted both day and time listed.

We also gave readers a chance to make some additional comments--and we wanted to address those comments, too.

A few readers asked us to put the newest stories at the top of the page. One reader said "I like it better when the stories are straight chronological and not by "most important" or newsworthy. Then I know by the top story whether or not I've read them all."

Thanks for the suggestion, but we probably won't ever put a news story about a Luther College recital at the very top of the page. You should know that all news stories that have been posted within the last 24 hours will have their titles shown in bold--so make sure you keep scrolling down as long as you see bold print."

Other readers wanted even more news coverage. One noted "I wish you had more South Winn news," while another said "I'd like to see more investigative reporting," a third said "I'd like quicker updates on sports scores and stories." Another comment noted, "the news does not stop Thursday night--it happens all weekend. To be truly up-to-date, postings should be added whenever news happens."

We don't disagree with any of these comments. However, decorahnews.com has a two-person staff with a lot of news to cover. We're doing more and more news stories and more and more continuous postings, but we still have a small staff. We pride ourselves in being "First, fast, free"--but it's tough to cover everything as soon as it happens. That remains our goal, however!

Another decorahnews.com reader e-mailed us: "I would like to see it compatible with my Blackberry. All I get are the ads, not the stories."

We hope to have an announcement SOON!!

Finally, one comment we got still perplexes us: "Please change the name of Mr. Answer Person." We're not sure what this reader is suggesting--perhaps "Mrs. Answer Person?"