Many of you may have noticed that there has not been a editorial for some time. The reason for this is that the editor has been working hard to bring more features to the site. Some of them you can see on the home page in the upper left-hand column.

While a lot of good things have been happening, there have also been some bugs. We want to make sure you are aware of them. Please take a moment to read this editorial so that you can be better informed on what is happening to your site.

The bad news first. It appears that there is a glitch in the notification application that informs the editor that an opinion has been posted. Some opinion submissions do come through to the editor and others do not. Unfortunately, that means that not all opinions are getting posted as quickly as we would like. Donít worry, the opinions are making it to us. They simply canít be reviewed and approved as quickly. We hope to have this resolved soon.

Here is another piece of bad news. We are also experiencing problems with the poll application. Some folks have no problems at all voting in the poll. Others are experiencing problems. We believe this has something to do with the cookie collection. We are sorting through the crumbs to find the solution to this one as well!

BUT. . .

There are good things happening. You will notice that the amount of guest columns is beginning to increase each month. Special thanks go to Ralph Bristol, Jimmy Moore and Ben Graydon. We continue to seek more columnists for the site. Encourage opinion makers you may know to use Upstate Common Voice as a means to keep their constituents informed.

Another exciting feature is the Upstate Common Voice PicOfTheDay. Sure, it has been there forever it seems like. However, now UCV readers can submit their own pictures! It is simpleóespecially for folks with digital cameras. Have a digital camera? Get out there and take some shots of your favorite Upstate places and people. Once you have your pictures on your computer's harddrive, go to the simple upload application and add your picture along with a simple description. Push the button and as soon as your picture is approved, it will show up on the UCV home page. We only check the images to make sure they arenít obscene!

You may remember the debate between the gubernatorial candidates that we broadcast from the site. Well, now you can get your event out there as well. The Upstate Common Voice Media page exists to allow you to submit events or help us record events that can be archived on the site for later playback. This is an exciting feature in which we hope everyone will take a part.

We aren't stopping with just these features. More will appear in the months to come. We trust we will continue to make the site interesting and simple to use.

Remember, www.commonvoice.com is really a site created by you. We exist to be a place where there is opportunity for commentary and discussion by and for the people of the Upstate. It will be whatever we all work to make it. Take part today!