New Missourian Web site working out the glitches

I want to thank everyone who's working their way through the redesigned Web site. With almost any technology transfer of this scale, some hiccups are expected.

Literally, thousands of stories have transferred from the old system into the new. Unfortunately, some show up in our internal database, but are not showing on the Web site. We're working on that.

Many of you have also noticed that there are no time stamps in the comments sections -- or on some of the stories. That's due to our system being locked into the Eastern Time Zone. We thought that looked strange. But changing the Time Zone was not as easy as expected.

There have also been issues with avatars showing up and then disappearing in the comments section. (By the way, some of you have been very creative. Well done.) This problem should be solved soon.

Most of the above issues -- and many others -- are short-term technological issues. But we also see some design flaws, too, now that we've gone live. Among them is how obituaries and other "Records" stories appear on the site. We're working to make this part of the site more intuitive.

Overall, though, feedback has been quite positive. We thank you for that -- and for hanging with us as we continue to make changes and solve the technological glitches. My hats off to Online Project Manager Matt Sanders, Webmaster James Baughn, Digital Director Gary Rust II, Programmer Lisha Jayasinghe and the News Staff for how quickly they're working through everything.

In the end, we hope you find the new site much more dynamic and interesting.