As any Singaporean who reads the news knows, The Straits Times paper-and-ink newspaper has launched some kinda online community called STOMP - of course, it’s named in a very Singaporean fashion: an acronym. I appreciate the effort the newspaper has put into empowering readers with knowledge and information via the Internet, and providing them a place to discuss online, but I can’t help but feel it’s a little hypocritical since The Straits Time’s main website, although sporting a spiffy design, doesn’t even have an RSS feed! *Shock, horror*
What’s worse, they even require a sign-up to view anything other than the front page. How’s that for a web presence? Even the NY times gives a sneak preview of the selected article to users who haven’t signed in. ST goes the stingy route and doesn’t show anything but a page encouraging a sign-up.
I think if ST honestly wants its STOMP portal to be taken more seriously, it should first foster adoption of its existing services (by actually making it easily accessible - that’s the whole trick of weblogs, print people!), and then see how STOMP could be tied in. Because what they’re targeting with STOMP, the way I see it, is a very fickle youth population. And we really don’t need some newspaper to help us publish our thoughts.
Tags: Straits Times, Singapore, Internet, STOMP
