Dear Editor:

I was more than annoyed when I started my computer after finally getting back electricity. I started my browser expecting to see my choice of a homepage as always and, lo and behold, a pop-up that required my answer. Do I want to “Catch Local News Daily...” then answer the popup with Sign Up Now, Already Signed up or No Thanks to sign up for our email newsletters. 

These pop-ups are more than annoying and I hope that you could find some other way to garner viewers of your newspaper. This is the type of web activity that actually scares some people away from intended destinations. When you create popups you actually set up an area that people become suspicious of as a magnet for viruses to get into their computers.

I thought it might be a one time event so I restarted my browser and saw it had reoccurred. A subtle hostage button to make someone continually answer the same question. 

If you want to increase readership numbers, it’s a question of content enhancement (news), not advertising dollars. Print readership is a premium and expensive, I understand that, but people only buy the newspaper for ads the week of Thanksgiving.

Michael Marr

Boothbay