I’ve had a few thoughts for the site over the last couple of weeks, so I thought it best to share them. After all, there’s more of you than me, you’re all users of the site and it’s always been my goal to make Blog Preston as open and as collaborative as possible. With this in mind, here are my ideas for how the site can be improved.

I’d love to hear your views so please comment, tweet or let your views be heard on Facebook. Reader participation is one of the most important aspects of the site, so even if you think that the ideas below are all good, please do let me know.

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A new commenting system

Comments are great. They help start a debate about content, they offer praise or criticism for the writer, or they can act as a place to leave memories. But comments can sometimes be a bit of a drag. You have to fill out your name and your email if you want to leave a comment.

There are some comment systems that allow you to sign in via your Facebook or Twitter account. Seeing as so many of you come to the site via these channels, it only makes sense to give you this option in order to make it easier for you. So, a comment system that allows you to sign in via Facebook or Twitter, sound good?

A data category

Recently you may have seen a few stories appearing that focus around data. Local data like unhygienic eateries, or life expectancy. The problem with a lot of this data is that it’s often hard to find. Some is from the Office for National Statistics, some from data.gov.uk, and some is from the council website.

The point is that it’s rarely easily accessible, even if its made public. I’d like to introduce a data page on the site that stores all relevant and public authority data so that if anyone needs to access it, it’s easy to find and in one place. Again, let me know what you think.

More guest contributors

As you may or may not know, Andy Halls, my former partner in crime has left Blog Preston. He’s graduated and moved to London, so from now on I’ll be running it on my own. That presents its own challenges, though while I’m in Preston I feel I can do a job of covering things that are going on.

However, if I’m busy or go on holiday the site will understandably see a decrease in content. For that reason I’m asking people to get in touch to contribute to the site. It can be as casual or as involved as you like, anything is appreciated. It can be about things happening on your street, event reviews or interesting people. Please get in touch, either in the comments below or via my email (joseph(at)blogpreston.co.uk).