Keith Whamond

The GreenwichTime.com you see today probably looks a bit different than the one you saw yesterday.

Make that a lot different.

The site you see today is the work of countless hours of work, both locally here in Connecticut and across Hearst Corporation.

There are so many new features that you might not notice them all at first. So we’ve put together a nice list of the big ones:

• A new, cleaner look. Our old site was, in a word, cluttered. We think you’ll love our new look. We’ve shed a lot of the excess to get back to the core mission of the site: To provide our readers with everything they need to know about their world, from Greenwich and beyond.

• No more anonymous comments. We heard you. While we obviously encourage discussion, anonymous comments rarely add anything meaningful. On our new site, users are required to provide an e-mail address when they register. Once we verify its authenticity, readers are encouraged to leave comments on stories, photos, videos and blog posts.

• An easier way to purchase reprinted photos. See a picture we’ve taken of you or a loved one that you just have to own a copy of? Just click the “Buy This Photo” link below the picture. It’s that easy.

• Way better search. Search isn’t just limited to articles anymore. Now, a search for, say, “Tesei” will return all of our articles about Peter Tesei, but also all of our pictures, videos and blog posts about the first selectman as well.

• Better multimedia. More slideshows. More videos. Our users click through our slideshows by the thousands every day, and our new site will give them bigger and better slideshows to explore.

Keep in mind that the site is still in “beta” mode, so you may see some weirdness here and there. If you do, please send us some feedback so we can take a look at it.

So click around! Explore the new site. I think you’re going to find it’s vastly better than our old one.

The StamfordAdvocate.com you see today probably looks a bit different than the one you saw yesterday.

Make that a lot different.

The site you see today is the work of countless hours of work, both locally here in Connecticut and across Hearst Corporation.

There are so many new features that you might not notice them all at first. So we’ve put together a nice list of the big ones:

• A new, cleaner look. Our old site was, in a word, cluttered. We think you’ll love our new look. We’ve shed a lot of the excess to get back to the core mission of the site: To provide our readers with everything they need to know about their world, from Stamford and beyond.

• No more anonymous comments. We heard you. While we obviously encourage discussion, anonymous comments rarely add anything meaningful. On our new site, users are required to provide an e-mail address when they register. Once we verify its authenticity, readers are encouraged to leave comments on stories, photos, videos and blog posts.

• An easier way to purchase reprinted photos. See a picture we’ve taken of you or a loved one that you just have to own a copy of? Just click the “Buy This Photo” link below the picture. It’s that easy.

• Way better search. Search isn’t just limited to articles anymore. Now, a search for, say, “Pavia” will return all of our articles about Michael Pavia, but also all of our pictures, videos and blog posts about the mayor as well.

• Better multimedia. More slideshows. More videos. Our users click through our slideshows by the thousands every day, and our new site will give them bigger and better slideshows to explore.

Keep in mind that the site is still in “beta” mode, so you may see some weirdness here and there. If you do, please send us some feedback so we can take a look at it.

So click around! Explore the new site. I think you’re going to find it’s vastly better than our old one.

The CTPost.com you see today probably looks a bit different than the one you saw yesterday.

Make that a lot different.

The site you see today is the work of countless hours of work, both locally here in Connecticut and across Hearst Corporation.

There are so many new features that you might not notice them all at first. So we’ve put together a nice list of the big ones:

• A new, cleaner look. Our old site was, in a word, cluttered. We think you’ll love our new look. We’ve shed a lot of the excess to get back to the core mission of the site: To provide our readers with everything they need to know about their world, from Bridgeport and beyond.

• No more anonymous comments. We heard you. While we obviously encourage discussion, anonymous comments rarely add anything meaningful. On our new site, users are required to provide an e-mail address when they register. Once we verify its authenticity, readers are encouraged to leave comments on stories, photos, videos and blog posts.

• An easier way to purchase reprinted photos. See a picture we’ve taken of you or a loved one that you just have to own a copy of? Just click the “Buy This Photo” link below the picture. It’s that easy.

• Way better search. Search isn’t just limited to articles anymore. Now, a search for, say, “Bill Finch” will return all of our articles about Bill Finch, but also all of our pictures, videos and blog posts about the mayor as well.

• Better multimedia. More slideshows. More videos. Our users click through our slideshows by the thousands every day, and our new site will give them bigger and better slideshows to explore.

Keep in mind that the site is still in “beta” mode, so you may see some weirdness here and there. If you do, please send us some feedback so we can take a look at it.

So click around! Explore the new site. I think you’re going to find it’s vastly better than our old one.

The NewsTimes.com you see today probably looks a bit different than the one you saw yesterday.

Make that a lot different.

The site you see today is the work of countless hours of work, both locally here in Connecticut and across Hearst Corporation.

There are so many new features that you might not notice them all at first. So we’ve put together a nice list of the big ones:

•    A new, cleaner look. Our old site was, in a word, cluttered. We think you’ll love our new look. We’ve shed a lot of the excess to get back to the core mission of the site: To provide our readers with everything they need to know about their world, from Danbury and beyond.

•    No more anonymous comments. We heard you. While we obviously encourage discussion, anonymous comments rarely add anything meaningful. On our new site, users are required to provide an e-mail address when they register. Once we verify its authenticity, readers are encouraged to leave comments on stories, photos, videos and blog posts.

•    A robust look at our archives. Free of charge. On our old site, if you wanted any article older than going back two weeks, you had to pay a fee. Now, we’ve opened up our archives going back a full five years, free of charge. Want to follow our articles on the arrest and trial of James Galante? Just search for his name. Click on a person’s name to read everything we’ve written about them. Five years of Danbury history, on the house.

•    An easier way to purchase reprinted photos. See a picture we’ve taken of you or a loved one that you just have to own a copy of? Just click the “Buy This Photo” link below the picture. It’s that easy.

•    Way better search. Search isn’t just limited to articles anymore. Now, a search for, say, “Burke” will return all of our articles about Robert Burke, but also all of our pictures, videos and blog posts about the first selectman as well.

•   Better multimedia. More slideshows. More videos. Our users click through our slideshows by the thousands every day, and our new site will give them bigger and better slideshows to explore.

Keep in mind that the site is still in “beta” mode, so you may see some weirdness here and there. If you do, please send us some feedback so we can take a look at it.

So click around! Explore the new site. I think you’re going to find it’s vastly better than our old one.

The following is an open letter to our readers:

We’ve heard you.

Time and again, the most consistent complaint about our sites we’ve heard from our users has been, to paraphrase, “The comments on your stories are horrible.”

“They’re filled with vile garbage.”

“They do nothing to add to a healthy conversation.”

“They’re extremely offensive.”

Our response has been equally steadfast: “We agree with you.”

Nobody cares more passionately about the freedom of speech than the members of our industry. I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if I didn’t believe strongly in the rights promised in the First Amendment.

In that sense, I’m not alone in thinking that users should be able to post comments on the stories that we write. I also think they should be able to post comments that I personally disagree with.

What I don’t believe, though, is that people should be allowed to anonymously post racist, threatening, homophobic comments on our site on a daily basis. And we’ve never allowed them to. Whenever that kind of garbage has been reported to us, we have deleted it as promptly as we could.

The problem with our story commenting system, which was administrated on a partnership with Topix.com, was that it made such anonymous postings all too easy to write.

I still believe it was an extremely vocal minority that ruined the concept for everyone else. But it’s a moot point: They were way out of hand.

As some may know, we’re in the middle of a complete relaunch of our sites, and developing a better way to integrate user comments has been one of our major goals. Our new sites are dramatically more user-friendly, and story commenting will be far more secure.

But those new sites aren’t ready yet. This is too important to wait any longer.

So, we got rid of the comments entirely. If you’d like to let us know how you feel about the stories we cover, please contribute to our newsroom blogs — Connecticut Postings, Stamford 411, and Greenwich Real Time. NewsTimes.com’s newsroom blog will be launching next week.

We’ve sacrificed a feature that we believe in because what we had wasn’t working. I have a hunch most of our readers will be thrilled. I know I am.

We had a terrific response two weeks ago to our live video blog with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, you can watch the recap of it here.

We’re following it up with a live blog this Thursday at 3 p.m. with U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4. Just like last time, we’re encouraging our readers to send in their questions ahead of time, but we’ll also be taking questions live on video on Thursday.

Have a question you’d like to ask the congressman? Click here to send me an e-mail or leave a comment below. I’ll be asking him the best submitted questions.

The president’s proposed health care bill dominated the questions during our previous live blog with Joe Lieberman, and I imagine health care will be the top issue once again.

I’ll be taking the Acela train down to Washington, D.C. bright and early Thursday morning. Should be a lot of fun!

I saw this ad during my travels along the Internet:

The president sure seems annoyed there. I guess he hates voting?

Just heard from a friend that David W. Harple, who has been taking pictures for The News-Times for decades, passed away today after his long battle with cancer. David served many roles for the paper over the years, but most recently he was he chief photographer and coordinated the photo staff.

I don’t know any specifics, but friends of Dave know all too well how hard he had fought his awful disease for the past several years.

Dave was one of the most personable, friendly people I’ve met. He was always looking to spark a conversation.

Check back soon for more details about services for Dave. In the meantime, please visit the Web site dedicated to raising money for him and his family. They need our support now more than ever.