Dear readers and fellow Putney residents,
I have a rather mortifying admission to make. As editor of Putney.news, I’ve just discovered that we have been completely missing – and therefore ignoring – dozens of emails from our loyal readers and community members.
This is entirely our fault, and I owe you an apology.
What went wrong
When we first created our website, we set up a contact form that automatically defaulted to our admin email address (admin@putney.news). This is the same administrative address we use for software updates and other technical necessities – not an inbox anyone on our editorial team monitors.
Meanwhile, we quickly established other dedicated email addresses for specific purposes: editor@ for editorial matters, news@ for story tips, events@ for community happenings, legal@ for official correspondence, and even evchargersnotwords@ specifically for Wandsworth Council to update us on their climate change initiatives (still waiting for that first email, by the way).
But your messages — the most important ones of all — were disappearing into an administrative black hole that nobody was reading.
The missed connections
Looking back, we should have realised something was amiss. While we can see that our stories reach over 25,000 local readers each month, we were puzzled by what seemed like unusually low reader interaction. For a local news website that aspires to serve the community, this should have been a red flag.
We even went so far as to create additional ways for you to reach us—a dedicated “Send Your Story” form prominently linked on our front page, and a Community Events page for residents to share upcoming local happenings.
It turns out we needn’t have worried about creating more channels for communication. You were already trying to connect with us all along.
Moving forward
The technical issue has now been resolved, and your messages are finally reaching the right people. We’re working through the backlog of emails we missed, and are committed to being more responsive to our community going forward.
To our readers who took the time to send us story tips, event information, feedback, or simply wanted to start a conversation about local issues: we hear you now, and we’re grateful for your engagement.
Putney.news exists to serve this community, and that means listening to what you have to say. We’ve learned our lesson, and we won’t let this happen again.
Personal apologies
To make amends, I want to offer specific apologies to everyone who reached out:
Fleur – Sorry for not getting back to your offer of a meeting.
Özge – We missed your Poetry Festival. Sorry.
Mike and Kara – We failed to cover your grand opening.
Claudia – We ignored your craft evening invitation.
Rachel – We didn’t cover your Learn to Play event.
Lydia – We missed your report on pavement conditions.
Henry – We completely missed that robbery story.
Sophie – We failed to cover your school’s international award.
David – We can’t believe we missed a talk by TV Gladiator Ace!
Esther – We overlooked the new bus service announcement.
Catherine – We missed your launch (we will to come around soon to make up).
Holly – We didn’t let people know about the art exhibit.
Sophie – We failed to cover the light festival.
Terri – We ignored your pub relaunch.
Nathaniel – We missed your message about your mother’s medical treatment.
Miguel – We overlooked dance night.
Patricia – We didn’t respond about an audio version of the site.
Elsa – We missed your harrowing report.
Alison – We didn’t support your band’s debut.
Charmaine – Same oversight with your musical venture.
Shirley – We didn’t get back about the fire.
Brian – We completely missed your distillery offer (is it still available?).
Barney – We didn’t respond to your follow-up.
Bethany – We missed that important statement.
Rich – We blanked on your news tip.
Tony – We completely missed that footballing scoop. Twice!
Ellie – We missed your advertising offer (let’s definitely talk!).
Francisco – We didn’t cover the open spaces at your nursery. Hope they’re now filled.
Sue – We failed to cover the family fair.
Geri – We missed your generous words.
Heidi – We didn’t take you up on your generous reporting offer (are you still available?).
Anne – We missed that useful background on Mount Clare.
Connor, Kevin and Jessica – We overlooked your responses about the squatters.
Susan – We missed your request (the answer is Yes).
Guy – We didn’t deal with your restatement request.
Sasha – We didn’t respond about the events calendar (though we did eventually connect).
Arnaldo – We missed your impassioned plea (we will take a look and get back to you).
Tom – We haven’t yet supported your new business (but we will!).
Anonymous – We missed your tip (we will follow up).
Ema-Mae – We overlooked your musical launch.
Mark – We missed your news tip (but will follow up with you).
To everyone listed above and anyone else we may have inadvertently missed: we’re truly sorry, and are now ready to listen, engage, and serve you as our community properly.
Let’s talk.
The Putney.news Editorial Team
What a refreshing innovation this is