Kurt Greenbaum: Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks to any of you (?) who might be out there this lovely Friday. I've been looking forward to this and I appreciate the questions that have been submitted already. I'll get to as many as I can during this hour -- and if there's duplicate questions, I'll try and address the answer to all of you. Don't forget to refresh your screen during the discussion (hit your reload button or press the 'F5' key). Let's go.

Matt Burgdorf: I understand the need to defray costs using advertising, but lately, every time I load the main page, a Hummer ad appears blocking my entire view (nice job avoiding the pop-up blockers!). Other sites I visit would have an ad such as this appear the first time the front page is loaded (totally understandable), but not every single time. Any chance this can be fixed?

Kurt Greenbaum: I've gotten a number of questions like this, so let's just go right out of the box with the answer and address it now. I don't know how long the Hummer ad or the other "rich media" ads are supposed to run. I could find out from my colleagues in advertising (I'm the news guy!) and let you know later.

I also realize that a lot of people don't like those ads. I've shared those complaints with my colleagues. My colleagues and I hope you'll try to tolerate the ads, and, perhaps even use and appreciate them for the information -- especially since STLtoday.com is offered free of charge.

The question also suggests that there are "better news sites around in Chicago, New York, Washington DC." That's an opinion, but I can tell you this: Those web sites use a lot of these "rich media" ads, too. So, advertisers must be finding them to be effective. On Tuesday afternoon, I saw a "Sprig.com" ad on the Washington Post web site that knocked the entire home page off the page like a window screen before I hit the "close" button.

In any case, I'll just renew my request to tolerate the advertising and my gratitude for your visiting STLtoday.com.

Anonaman: In light of the crash in the TOD Blog, does the PD have plans to increase the bandwidth/servers for their Blog section?

Kurt Greenbaum: Yeah, those kinds of crashes are a problem. I know my colleagues on the tech side of the house are watching that kind of thing. It's definitely something we'll have to address -- especially if it becomes an ongoing project. It's not always a bandwidth/server issue; sometimes it's a matter of underlying programming or other issues, so I really rely on my tech friends to look at it. I know they're watching it and we'll be working with them to get their advice on the best solution to those problems.

Les: It seems the little things on your website are not accurate and therefore questions the credibility of the website. For example, today, 4/24/07 at 9:12AM the front page of the website states that the current temperature is 76 degrees. All of the other local websites and the weather website says it is 58 degrees. Not even close.

Why is that?

Kurt Greenbaum: On the day you posted this question, I also got an e-mail about the same issue. I'm grateful to both of you (or are you the same person?). I'm always grateful when we hear feedback about the site or corrections from readers.

Obviously, we want to get it right and in this case, we didn't. The reason: A technical problem that was preventing our data feed from getting to the right place. That's not an excuse. It was still wrong.

Shawn: Hi Kurt...long time listener, first time caller. Picture is nice. How ya been?

Later

Kurt Greenbaum: Hmmm. I wonder if this is the Shawn I'm thinking it is? Welcome, Shawn, and thanks for calling. I've been just dandy.