On Thursday you may have read Tim Paluch’s column offering advice to President Gregory Geoffroy. You stopped and thought to yourself, “Hey, I’d like to give Geoffroy some advice of my own.”

But after looking at the Iowa State Daily’s Web site, you noticed the usual feature of feedback wasn’t there.

The feedback feature has been shut down until further notice on the Daily’s Web site. And it makes me sad that it had to come down to this.

Up until Thursday, I defended the feedback feature. As the former online editor, I felt feedback was an opportunity for people to express themselves.

It would be a free-flowing exchange of opinions. We would learn from each other . The Daily would be more in touch with its readers.

Boy, was I wrong.

The posted comments ranged daily from stupid to offensive. The amount of ignorance that was posted on our Web site at times annoyed me, while at other times humored me.

I found it funny that people would waste their time posting comments on the Web site about how stupid the Daily staff is, all while their comments appeared to be written by someone with a third-grades education.

But yet I defended them.

I defended feedback because I believe in the freedom of speech.

I think there should be more interaction between local newspapers and their readers.

The final straw that broke that belief came Thursday.

That night it was brought to my attention that a strange message was posted on every article on the Web site.

The message’s content ranged from libelous information about DPS to the ridiculous idea that a UFO landed in Ames.

All the accusations were defended with accurate quotes from the Bible.

The message was signed, Rev. David Eggert, a campus minister.

But the problem is that Rev. Eggert never wrote the message. He didn’t even know that the Daily had a Web site until a few days ago.

But someone, for whatever reason, used his name instead of his or her own.

But every reader to the Daily’s Web site (around 8,000) thought he wrote this bizarre message.

The Daily can’t apologize enough for this mistake.

This wasn’t the first time readers have used other people’s names instead of their own.

So the Daily is exploring options to prevent this problem from happening again.

The Daily has three choices of how to deal with this situation.

The Web site can have a filtering system which means each comment submitted will be e-mailed to the online editor.

This editor then approves or disapproves the comment for posting.

Several college newspapers, such as the Daily Nebraskan, use this system.

The Daily online staff has discussed this option extensively. Under this policy, the Daily would have one individual deciding what is appropriate for posting. This lies on the edge of censorship.

The second option has the feedback feature send an email to the email address logged in, checking if the address exists. But individuals who want to post offensive comments on our site could easily go to Hotmail.com and set up a fake person’s account.

The third option is to have the feedback permanently removed from the site.

The Daily is looking for other options in order to find a solution in this problem.

But until then, if the Daily’s readers want to respond to an article or opinion column printed, they will have to do it the old fashioned way – by submitting a letter to the editor.

If a reader has any ideas, suggestions or comments about the feedback feature, please email them to me at eic@iowastatedaily. com.

Michelle Kann is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Garnavillo. She is editor in chief of the Daily.