Ipswich Star boss Liz Nice answers readers' questions

Can we have more positive lead stories ?
I am a subscriber, and look at the website most days for my local news. The lead story is often about crime, and I think this sends out the wrong message about our community.
I am glad you asked this. The last thing we want to do is run down Ipswich, which is a place we love and feel proud to represent. We believe Ipswich should be a city and that the authorities in the town need to work together to make the very best of the assets we have - not least our amazing football team.
There are problems here, as there are in any town, and we cover those, and put pressure on those who have the power to do something about them. But we also focus on the good things - every Friday we run a Good News Ipswich page for example, and we are always keen to tell stories about the wonderful things that are happening in our community. If you have a lovely story to tell, please email me at liz.nice@newsquest.co.uk and I will put it in the paper. 

How do we make the 'Comments section' a more positive area of discussion?
Most users' (mostly anonymous or alter egos) comments are negative, and although there is some interesting debate and feedback on the political items, there is a lot of degenerative sniping. I can see that this has improved since subscription, and I therefore see this a good move, but it needs to be made clear that insulting, derogatory, irrelevant and racist language will not be tolerated.
I agree. We have recently enabled a new function on our site where you can complain if you see a comment that is abusive or racist or unacceptable in any way. These complaints are monitored and such comments are immediately removed as soon as we become aware of them. We welcome debate - we can't all agree on everything - but abusive comments of any form are not welcome. 

Could you put the funerals in the day before as several people I know have missed them as didn’t know until it was too late.
I will look into this. It's a good suggestion and I will see if it is possible. 

Readers remember the Evening Star fondly (Image: Ipswich Sports Club)

I know times are hard for local newspapers these days, but I remember the Star when it was a broadsheet packed with local news and the modern version full of recycled national news and syndicated pieces doesn't hold a candle to it.
This is hard to hear. I worked on the Evening Star as it was then in the 1990s and we had so many reporters back then. Now, some days, we have just one or two. We do our very best to cover Ipswich and fill the paper with Ipswich stories. Our website also is full of Ipswich and the surrounding area content. Looking back, I'm astonished at how much we do achieve with the staff numbers we have. But we will, as ever, keep trying to do better.

Can you please change the way articles are titled so they don't say things like "such and such has happened in a Suffolk town" and instead just state the relevant town/village etc name. As it is a local paper, the article is most likely to be about somewhere in Suffolk so it would be more helpful if the article title stated the name of the city/town/village etc then users can identify articles they may be of interest faster.
This is a fair point. I will relay it to my reporters. 

I know resources are thin on the ground but it is apparent that your staff are mainly desk bound - could they just roam about and find stories now and again?
We do get out and about quite a lot but we are currently without an office and working from home while our new office is fitted out which makes things more difficult. In the next few months, we will be moving back into an Ipswich office again and this will enable us to get out into town much more. In the meantime, if you have a story, let us know at Suffolkeditors@newsquest.co.uk or contact our Ipswich Star news editor and Ipswich woman Clarissa Place at clarissa.place@newsquest.co.uk

If you have a story contact News Editor Clarissa Place on clarissa.place@newsquest.co.uk
Something I find people often say is that they only find out that an event has happened in Ipswich after it has happened - could you do a extensive what’s on section? It may no longer generate income in itself but could be good click bait.
We do a what's on page every week on a Thursday but will look at how we can do more of this following your suggestion. Thank you. 

Mark Heath answers your sport related questions (Image: Newsquest)

We also had a quite a few sport related questions, which I have passed on to our Sports Editor, Mark Heath.

Q: As an ITFC fan I enjoy Ipswich Star content and local Felixstowe news. Very frustrating that Star 'player ratings' etc link to EADT so I do not feel that I am getting the complete service. 
A: The subscription to the Star is cheaper than the EADT, with premium Town content on the latter the big seller and reason for the higher price. You’ll get a lot of Town news on the Star, just not the premium articles. We are also looking at a bundles option where fans can subscribe to both papers - watch this space. 

Q: Why are Stu’s observations on ITFC in EADT on not The Star? 
A: As above. They do appear in the paper version of the Star. 

Q: Why don't you make available to subscribers the Player Ratings for ITFC matches, as is the case for the EADT? 
A: As above. 

I hope this has resolved your queries. As always, I will help if I can so contact me on liz.nice@newquest.co.uk if you are not happy about something. I answer every email I receive - unless it is really unkind. Best wishes, Liz