But my main complaint about the site is that it is too much like a newspaper, in that it is decidedly one-way in its communication with users. Readers don't have much of a chance to interact with the site. The site does have a Feedback area, but it's weak. Then e-mail a letter to the editor, and the best letters will be included on the Web site the next day. This is the newspaper approach to reader feedback shoveled to the Web.
Users feel more of a connection to the site.
ET takes the same approach to its online opinion polls, where site users vote on the question of the day and see an instantly tabulated result. The site seems to go out of its way to keep readers from contacting ET staff directly. On bylined articles, there's no way to send a message directly to the writer. And there's no staff list, so other than sending a general e-mail or phoning the central number, there's no way to contact an individual writer or editor. In other words, stop acting like a newspaper and start acting like a Web site.