That “other” St. Louis newspaper that closed its doors in 1986, before newspapers closing their doors was all the rage, is back…as a website.
Things looks good so far, and I really hope they do well since we need another strong news source in this town, but I do have a few questions:
1. They do know that their website doesn’t have to just look like a boring old newspaper right? Don’t get me wrong, the newspaper look can be awesome, but this isn’t it. If you want to do the newspaper thing look at this: www.instablog.org That’s how you do a newspaper website!
2. If GlobeDemocrat.com is a blog about the old Globe-Democrat newspaper and then the Globe-Democrat relaunches itself as a website, couldn’t they get that domain instead of using globe-democrat.com? I mean, whats the point of the blog now anyway?
3. I’m sure their staff is pretty small, but I really hope they get more unique content than a few articles surrounded by news feed articles from STATS. They will need some voices to make this thing go anywhere.
4. This page could use some work.
5. Their privacy policy has a few holes in it…normally this isn’t something I would really feel the need to check in to but…well…you know.
First we have this (emphasis mine):
Personally Identifiable Information collected by Globe-Democrat.com may also be used for other purposes including but not limited to site administration and troubleshooting. Certain third parties who provide technical support for the operation of our site (our Web hosting service and our newsletter provider, for example) may access such information.
…and then this…
As we continue to develop our business, we may sell, buy, merge or partner with other companies or businesses. In such transactions, user information may be among the transferred assets. We may also disclose your information in response to a court order, at other times when we believe we are reasonably required to do so by law, in connection with the collection of amounts you may owe to us, and/or whenever we deem it appropriate or necessary to give such information to law enforcement authorities. Please note we may not provide you with notice prior to disclosure in such cases.
I’m sure they mean well, and I’m not here to try and accuse them of things they haven’t yet done, but this thing is like swiss cheese.
6. Howard Balzer on sports?! Ugh! Really? There wasn’t anyone else?! If you wanted a jersey chaser to write for you there are lots of girls out there that are way more attractive with only a slight loss in writing acumen. …nice work picking up BJ Rains though.
