Dear Reader

Dear Reader:

Here are a few updates on Indy operations.

Where Did The Analytics Go?
We had a malware infection a few weeks ago. You may remember when the Indy was down for almost a full day. We’re still working our way back from that.  Almost everything is back in working order except for our analytics tracker.  Hopefully that will be back soon.  After getting used to knowing exactly what is being read and when and by how many people, it’s been kind of like flying blind these last two weeks, not having the number of page views for each of our articles. Thanks to those of you who asked what’s up with that, and for letting us know that you too like to keep tabs on the numbers.

So here are just a couple of numbers that I can provide. This article is the 4,358th artcile that we’ve published since our inception four plus years ago. And those articles were produced by 336 unique contributors. That’s all the quantification I have for this week but we’ll hopefully be back with the full range of analytics soon.

Commenting In The Indy
These last few weeks have seen an uptick in comments submitted from pseudonymous sources.  We were pretty sure that we had set out guidelines for submitting comments in our early issues but if we did, they are no longer to be found on the site.  So we have drafted some new guidelines, based largely on those used by the New York Times.  They appear below.  We’ll eventually get these posted in an obvious place on the site.  Please know that we are happy to hear from you and we hope to see more extended conversation threads in the comments section.

Thanks for reading the Indy and best wishes,
Art

Art Keene
Managing Editor

Draft Guidelines For Reader’s Comments In The Indy
The Indy welcomes your advice, criticism, analysis, and unique insights into the issues of the day. Comments can be posted using the Leave a Reply box at the bottom of each article.

With this feature we aim to provide a space where our readers can exchange intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information. 

In order to be posted, comments must:

• be submitted / signed with the full real name of the writer
  
• include a working email address
  
• be relevant to the associated article
  
• be civil and not include personal attacks
  
• be factually accurate

You do NOT need to register with the site in order to leave a comment.

Comments to the Indy are moderated and writers should expect a brief lag between submission and posting.  While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective and carefully made by our moderators.  While we do not systematically fact check comments, those comments containing obviously inaccurate information will be rejected.

Our comment policy is modeled after that of the New York Times and we thank them for the model language that we have borrowed.