If you are unable to click on the confirmation link when you register, you can copy and paste the link into your browser (Most people use Internet Explorer, though personally, I recommend switching to Firefox.) You should be able to complete the registration process that way.

Other users have complained that requiring registration limits free speech. I ask, “How do you figure?” You’re free to register and post comments. How, exactly, does it limit you?

Managing Editor Bill Dunn explained it to one user much better than I ever could. Below is one user’s complaint about the registration requirement:

It is hard to believe your paper now requires a log in to voice the citizens
opinion. It is very evident the citizens of GI are very unhappy with the
current actions of our city leaders. The citizens of GI need to be heard
without the attempts to quite us. Please remember we live in a Democracy,
and please stop trying to take the side of  Socialism.

And this is Bill’s response:

Democracy involves making your voice heard. We require a real name and address for publication in the newspaper opinion section. We think anyone can shoot their mouth off anonymously. I don’t pay attention to anonymous letters. They are thrown away immediately. Individuals with conviction and character are not afraid to say who they are and stand behind their words. It has been that way for decades in this newspaper and will remain that way.

As far as the website, all we ask is for a registration. I would recommend that if you have issues with the city leaders, register on the web site, (like you must at any respectable site) and fire away with your comments.  There is nothing socialist about that. The registration is required by our company owners in New York.

I would even urge you to write a letter to the city leaders that you are concerned about. I would also urge you to set up a meeting with them, or at least your council representative. That is true one-on-one democracy.

I invite and urge you to voice your opinions loudly, with articulate and well-reasoned arguments in the both the newspaper and on the website. That is what they are designed for — to preserve democracy.

We will keep working on fixing the problems with registration. But we are unable to disable the function and it won’t be going away in the forseeable future.

Beginning today, we have a new and improved system for ordering reprints. The Independent has teamed up with MyCapture to provide a convenient way for readers to order - not just a reprint, but mugs, buttons, keychains, mousepads, magnets, plaques, and many other products.

Visit our new and improved daily photo galleries and check it out!

If you have any questions, please read this helpful FAQ regarding ordering and image info as well as return policies.

Enjoy!

If you wish to comment on articles on our website, you will have to register and provide a valid email address. This is being implemented company-wide for all GateHouse Media newspapers which means it is not a feature we have the option to shut off.

Photographer Jon Helgason and videographer Adam Maser have been going out there each day to get updates on the progress. From the looks of things, it’s going well and they may actually finish a day earlier than planned - even with all this rain to contend with! That’s awesome.

Jack is the Presentation Editor here at The Independent and beginning June 9th, he is going to begin training to run a half-marathon in August. Jack hasn’t done any serious running since 1998, according to his first entry, but on June 2nd, the paper will begin a series on how to train for a marathon, and Jack’s going to give it a try.

You can follow his blog posts as he writes about the trials and tribulations of getting his body ready for a Big Run.

Don’t forget to check out our other cool bloggers over at GrandIslandBlogs.com!

We do have some fairly exciting changes coming with our Spotted galleries and photo reprint purchasing. With the switch to our new company, we have to give up using the software that powers Spotted. But that’s ok, we found something cooler We’ll be changing the name to “Snapshot” and we’re working on installing it this week. Soon you will be able to log in, and upload your photos… and videos! It’s going to rock.

Ordering reprints will soon rock as well. We’re integrating reprint ordering with MyCapture. What is MyCapture, you ask? Do you like t-shirts? Drink your coffee in a mug? Looking for a new mousepad? Want any of those things with your kid’s image on it? I thought you might Soon you’ll be able to order over 300 kinds of items with photos taken by our award-winning photographers on them. Cool!

So look for our archives to return very soon now, a new way to upload your own photos and videos to our site, and order awesome reprints of those photos!

Archives: Our full archives will be down for a while as the company tackles getting 10 years of stories and content transferred and rebuilt. In the meantime, we have a temporary archive set up that goes back to June 21, 2007. It can be found on the front page of the website by looking at the navigation across the top and finding the link in the sub-navigation underneath called ‘News Archive,’ or you can click here. I do not have an ETA on when our full archives will be back online, but they will be.

Text Size: Some folks have commented that the font size in the stories is too small and hard to read. I hate to break it to you guys, but we didn’t change the font size at all. It’s the same as before. It occurred to me though, that occasionally - and seemingly out of the blue - my browser will arbitrarily shrink that page’s font size. If this happened to you, try clicking on ‘View’ in your browser, and from there you can enlarge the font size.

AP Sections: Currently we only have State and National feeds from the AP up and running, but we are working at bringing back the rest of the sections.

Spotted Galleries: We’ve had a couple of calls from folks looking for our Spotted Galleries. They are still up and running at http://spotted.theindependent.com, or by clicking the link under the ‘Photos’ tab across the top of the page.

Twitter: Our Twitter feed is now functioning again. Follow us at http://twitter.com/theindependent

Get the Picture: Another feature that we run in Classifieds was missing in the new design. Readers can now get to the “Get the Picture” entry form by clicking the ‘Photos” tab on our main page. The form link is under that.

Weather Radar: One reader wanted to know if we would have a closer local radar on the weather page and the answer to that is yes. That is coming within the next month.

That’s pretty much what we covered in the chat and through phone calls and emails. If you have a question we haven’t covered yet, please email me and I’ll help you out.

First, The Independent won an award for Best Website this past weekend. Woohoo! And three days later the website underwent a complete redesign from the ground up. Time will tell if the new look helps us win again next year.

But speaking of the redesign, It’s nearly ready for the Big Switch later this evening. It’s a really big change. Really, really big. It might annoy some of our regular readers. Or, it might make them over the moon. It’s up in the air and that’s what makes something like this so exciting. it could go either way I’m laying odds that the new website will make our readers happy as long as everyone understands that there will be a bit of a learning curve.

The Online team at the Independent is available from 8am to 5pm CST if you have questions or need help. You can also, contact me via email with questions. You can also check out the reader’s guide that will be in tomorrow’s paper and use it as a reference. I will also set up a live chat here on Wednesday and you can come in and ask me your questions.

I think you’ll like the new site though.

One last change for those of you who participate in our daily poll question on the Editorial page: The poll question has moved to this blog. You can check it each day over there on the right and submit your vote. Please be patient if the question hasn’t changed for the day yet. I will need to find a routine that works with the Editorial folks for getting the question updated so there may be some kinks at first.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Come back tomorrow and jump in the live chat with me if you have a question about the site. Thanks!

First: it’s creepy and vaguely disturbing in a morbid kind of way. You read that title and think, “Oh man. I’m not clicking on that.” Images of dissected bodies, aniseptic smells, creepy little doctors in their blood-spattered whites dance through your head.

Second: Unless you’re in the newspaper biz, you might not realize that most newspapers refer to their archive as “The Morgue.” It’s where every copy of the paper ever printed is kept, and these archives usually end up in the basement.

Third: The blog is actually about old B-Movie adverts that appeared in The Independent back in the days when movie ads were fun and interesting (and creepy!).

Chad Plambeck, a B-Movie buff and afficionado of all things horror has taken the time to scan and showcase these gems and give his expert opinion on the movies themselves. This blog is well-worth a visit!

UPDATE: Scenes from the Morgue has also been featured on popular pop culture blog Neatorama!