The Bolton News: Online subscriptions and comments explained

We are always looking at ways we can improve the experience of reading The Bolton News ­- whether that is online or in print. 

Now we are aiming to bring in some new features ­- including more sport, more audio, and subscriber-only "premium content" ­- as well as changes to our comments section.

Last year we launched a new way to support trusted local journalism ­- by becoming an online subscriber.

And now we are fast approaching a new milestone ­- soon we will have 1,000 online subscribers. 

Just this week we passed the 900 mark and we want to thank each and every one of you for supporting local journalism. 

Subscribing to our website costs as little as £2 for two months. You can find out more and sign up to our special offer here.

After that it is around a pound a week - that's less than 15p a day ­- and we think that's pretty good value for trusted local journalism.

Changes

When we hit the 1,000 mark that money will effectively fund TWO local journalists ­- and we are already in the process of hiring them.

One will be a dedicated online news reporter and the other a digital sports reporter ­- doubling our coverage of Bolton Wanderers as the club embarks on its journey back up the leagues.

Wanderers players celebrating promotion

And what do you get for you money?

Well, for a start, you get unlimited articles as well as access to hundreds of free online puzzles, crosswords and brainteasers.

Finally, you get an "advertising-light" experience ­- fewer adverts, pop-ups and surveys for our most loyal readers.

Comments

Soon you will start to see more differences to our site.

There will be premium content available only to subscribers, more audio offerings, like our brilliant Wanderers podcast The Buff, and we even hope to bring you a dedicated app in the next few months which will mean you can read an e-edition of our daily print paper.

We have also taken onboard feedback from subscribers about our comments section.

We try where we can to promote debate on our stories. We do this because we know that some readers enjoy this aspect of visiting a news site.

But all too often, the comments under stories can turn nasty ­— hate speech and abuse from trolls, a lot of it overtly racist.

There is also a large amount of frankly embarrassing playground squabbling between a minority of users – which also often includes bullying.

Without doubt the majority of complaints ­from online readers concerns our comments section. One of our sister titles even went so far as to turn off comments completely.

We firmly believe that the minority is spoiling it for everyone else. However, we will not hesitate to clamp down further on comments if the problem persists.

From now on, we will be taking a more pro-active approach to comments. There will be some stories where the comments are disabled ­— because we believe they will attract negative comments.

This does not mean you won't be able to comment at all on our site ­— but there may be certain stories that do not have that option.

This could include court cases, where comments can not only frequently become abusive, but could also prejudice a case; or it could be that the subject is deemed too sensitive in the first place; or it might be that we have allowed comments on a story but they have then gotten out of hand.

Bolton Crown Court

We will, however, endeavour to keep comments enabled on all our premium content ­— meaning subscribers will be able to comment on those stories.

Join the debate on social media

There are of course other places where you can discuss and debate our stories.

You can join our Facebook page or one of our groups. There is the main Bolton News Facebook page where we post the majority of our stories during the day, or you can join our crime and court group, where you can join the debate on policing in Bolton.

We also have a We grew up in Bolton Facebook group which has begun to share more of our nostalgia, features and other general news, as well as the Bolton News Camera Club where readers submit pictures which appear in the newspaper and online.

We are committed to providing trusted, local news ­— and we want people to be able to come to our site without having to be abused or be faced with offensive comments under our stories.

Thank you

Last month, The Bolton News had record viewing figures online — close to six million page views — the most in 2021 and the second highest number in the last 12 months.

The figures were driven by our unrivalled coverage of the town — including exclusives on coronavirus, the inside track on Whites promotion from Marc Iles and the latest breaking news from around the borough.

Coronavirus rates in Bolton have been among the highest in the country

We bring you more news about Bolton than any other site — and we are thankful for every single one of you who reads our coverage.

If you want to support local journalism by subscribing then you can do so by visiting theboltonnews.co.uk/subscribe.

And if you want the paper delivered to your door, then visit theboltonnews.co.uk/home-delivery or call us on 0800 953 0227.

Every subscription ­— either online or for the newspaper ­— is not only giving you access to a huge amount of local news, sport and puzzles ­but is also supporting local journalism and local jobs.

Thank you for supporting us and thank you for reading The Bolton News.

Steve Thompson, Editor, The Bolton News

You can let me know what you think about these changes or indeed get more information on how to subscribe by emailing me at steve.thompson@newsquest.co.uk