I read an interesting item today about product development at a software company called 37 Signals. The gist was that most product development is centered on questions like “what feature do you think is missing?” or “If you could add just one thing, what would it be?”

All are good questions, and important to stretching projects. But the 37 Signals folks also wonder, “ ‘Why not ask people what they don’t want?’ If you could remove one feature, what would it be?’ ‘What don’t you use?’ ‘What gets in your way the most?’ “

The context for those questions was software development. But I think they also can translate to the wide scope of a website like Bakersfield.com.

So, my question to you is, “What thing on Bakersfield.com could you live without?” It can be a type of content, software feature, site design and presentation, etc. 

Before you start typing, consider two things off topic right off the bat:

1)  We know our registration feature needs improvement, and are getting ready to roll out a major change to simplify the process. And no, we're not getting rid of registration -- it's one of the ways we can keep the site free. So, please consider registration off topic and focus on other ideas. 

2) Refrain from suggesting that certain bloggers be excised from the site. If you're serious about problem bloggers or posters, you can share those thoughts with us via email.

Thanks.

Each year,  the newspaper partners with several nonprofit organizations that screen and nominate deserving families for news profiles.

You can read those profiles as they're published in our Share the Season section, as well as download a donation form and check the donor list, which will be updated regularly as contributions are submitted.

I’m pleased to announce that Jason Sperber has joined the bakersfield.com crew as  our Community Content Coordinator. Jason is an accomplished blogger in his own right, and is a great addition to our team.

This is the first time we’ve had this kind of position, and Jason arrives not a moment too soon. Since launching our community blogs in the spring, we’re now host to hundreds of individual blogs that receive thousands of comments per week, and those numbers are rising by the day. 

Jason will be helping to manage and develop this growing community of everyday readers who are creating profiles, blogging on any number of topics, commenting on others’ posts, posting photos and videos, and otherwise contributing content to the site. He’ll be a sounding board for questions and feedback through his Blogging Bako blog, as well as a participant in some of your conversations. And, he’ll be a traffic cop as needed.

Some people have asked, “How’s this going to work with Steve Swenson?” Steve, if you don’t know, is The Californian’s leading blogger, and has played a key role in the growth of Bakersfield.com’s blogging community. Steve’s focus, for the most part, is on updating the website with breaking news and posting to a variety of newsroom blogs. Jason’s role will mostly be managing content generated outside the newsroom, although there is some natural overlap given the interactivity with our readers. Look at it as a bonus to have two people focused on building our blogs.

And Jason’s job will evolve as we add new site features in the coming months that give our readers more opportunities to interact with the community. We’re committing a full-time position to this focus because we believe reader-generated content is an important part of our mission to serve as the town square, so to speak, for community conversations big and small, fun and serious.

We’re planning to install a major upgrade to the software that delivers our email newsletters, and to accomplish that, we’re going to shut down the mail server for an extended time beginning this afternoon. That means some newsletters (such as News Alerts, Oil News, and possibly Thursday morning’s Daily Digest) won’t be delivered until we’ve installed and tested the new software.

What’s in it for you? The upgrade will improve delivery times and give us more flexibility as we roll out more newsletters on high-interest local topics. (Click here if you’d like to subscribe to our existing and upcoming newsletters).

On the subject of newsletters and how we can improve our products, which email newsletters do you read regularly, and why? What local newsletters would you like to see us offer?

Thanks.