Changes to our website - frequently asked questions

Why are you asking for my details before I can read a story?

In order to help us improve our site and the stories we write, we are asking our readers to give us their name and email so they can carry on reading our content for free.

What will you do with my details?

We will use them to improve your experience on our website. We won’t pass them on to anybody else without your permission.

What do I get for giving you my email?

You get to keep on reading all of our stories for free.

Will I have to register more than once?

No. You will only have to register once and then you log in to our website from each of your devices. When you log-in for the first time, we will keep you logged in on that device - provided your browser settings allow it.

Other local news brands don’t do this, so why are you?

We want to be able to give you the best experience possible on our websites. By giving us your details we can make sure you get best content and offers that are relevant to you. You will have noticed several other sites, like the BBC, who are asking readers to log-in first - so we aren’t the only ones. Over time we will be improving our site and the people who are registered with us will get the benefits of this.

What kind of better reader or user experience could I expect to get?

Improvements such as recommending content we think you’ll like. Or notifying you about things you’ve told us you like, such as new openings in your area. Finally, personalising parts of the site to your tastes, including emails and article recommendations.

Also we may use it for business or legal purposes, such as dealing with any requests you make or content you submit. Equally, we may get in touch if we need to tell you about something new, have an offer or, notify you of an issue or change to our service.

Will the websites work any quicker once I register, and will I see fewer adverts?

Not immediately, but over time it is our intention to improve the website experience for the people who are fully registered with us.

How about if I follow you on Facebook - will I still have to register to read stories?

Yes you will. You can use your Facebook profile to very quickly log-in to our website - once you’ve done that you won’t have to do it again!

When I go to the page to register, the security padlock (that is by your website address) has a line through it and informs me that the connection is not secure and that my login information could be compromised. Why does this happen and what are you doing about it?

It is not essential for you to register your information with us on the homepage to access our content. You can still access up to 25 articles per month on our site without registering, and can browse our homepage and section pages whenever you like - without it counting towards your 25 article limit.

Security is very important to us and we always do our best to ensure readers’ data is not at risk. Any detail you share with us will be stored safely and securely.

We are also taking steps to make our sites even more secure, and this will come into effect in the next few weeks. We understand, however, that until our new policy is in place you may feel uncomfortable sharing your details. If so, you will still be able to access 25 articles per month without registering.