• Our Spring Cleaning extravaganza continues, with the focus now on our Community area. You know, stuff where you can participate and be a part of the News Askew family. So, we’ll have some neat announcements for you in the coming weeks regarding some enhancements and events that we think you’ll dig.

For starters, we’ve made some small changes to the TalkBack system. That’s the little link that you can click and post through at the top left of any story, just under the headline there. The talkback system used to reveal your e-mail address for all the world to see. There was no option to turn this off. We’ve now DISABLED that, so you can feel free to post, your email will be safe and not revealed to the spammers of the net world. Of course, we’ll still ask for your e-mail when you register for a Talkback account, but it won’t be shared. We promise. You can register for a talkback username by clicking the REGISTER tab on any comment page. It’s in the upper right corner and lower right corner there. Join up, and become a part of the community! Discuss the latest news with all your pals. It’s now safer than ever.

Also, the TalkBack system has had code enhancements, with the new server adding to the speed — Posting a message has gone from taking up to 30 seconds to taking only 1 or 2 seconds now at most times. Yep, it’s THAT fast! Even cooler, on most browsers, your login will be cookied in, so posting will be faster than ever once you’ve logged in once. Even if you haven’t posted in a week.

See you in the TalkBacks, and we’ll have more community type stuff real soon.