Batavia Daily News finally has a web site

Posted by Howard Owens on December 9, 2008 - 4:37pm
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After months of "we'll have a web site soon" -- some tell us years -- the Batavia Daily News finally does. 

The site launched some time in the past two hours.

The site, hosted by Town News, which is a favorite content management system used by many small publishers, is rather basic.  The platform offers limited ability for big news packages or posting breaking news.

But the daily will offer comments on stories, at least for now. However, the registration process is rather lengthy and submissions are held in a moderation queue pending approval, a process often used by papers on Town News, but tends to inhibit community conversation.

We'll see if the comment I just left on a Joanne Beck story gets posted!

Of course, Daily News staffers are always welcome to leave comments on The Batavian.

Many people have asked me what the launch of the Daily News site means for The Batavian. To me, it only bodes well.  The Daily is going to help create more community interest in local online news, which means many, many more people will find The Batavian and like the different way we handle news.

Go take a look at the site and let us know what you think of it.

UPDATE: They did publish my comment ... at least for now.

Posted by Sherry Tacy on December 10, 2008 - 7:44am
My first impression is that the site seems basic and uninteresting. I will be watching to see what level of interaction is allowed. The Batavian has become popular at a great pace and I find that it hasn't changed the ability to post, blog, comment. I read The Daily News because there is something satisfying about having the news in the palm of your hands. The feel of the paper, smell of the print. I'm a little old school about that. I think that having the news at our fingertips at the click of the mouse is a great thing too. I will have to take a "wait and see" position on this for now.
Posted by Howard Owens on December 10, 2008 - 8:06am
It's a lot of work for a newspaper to go from nothing to "web site." It's hard to know if they think -- "site's up, mission accomplished" or if there is a lot more coming. I know they signed a deal with a vendor for an additional feature on the site, so at least one upgrade is coming. They don't have their classifieds online yet, and I hear they're working on that.

There's no such thing as a finished web site, so we can assume they will continue to grow. And as the staff gets more comfortable with the site, there will be things they want to add.

We expect they will evolve.

And I expect the Daily site will have its fans, and The Batavian will have its fans, but most people will go to the Daily site for one kind of online experience, and to The Batavian for a different.

Differences are a great thing in life.
Posted by Thomas Wommack on December 10, 2008 - 10:39am
I just visited the site and thought it was a lame excuse of a news website! It did give the news but in a very bland and unattractive way! Maybe they will make changes as it progresses.
Posted by Darrick Coleman on December 10, 2008 - 10:51am
I'm happy to see that they offer RSS feed for a few sections of their paper.