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For a number of years, the Today Programme website has hosted message boards in which any registered user can start a new thread. Starting this Thursday, we're planning to change the way these boards operate, and this has caused some concern amongst regular users of the service.

At the moment users can start discussions on any topic within reason across five broad subject areas (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, International, Parliament, Economy and Business and the Green Room). The problem with this system is that the topics under discussion are often not closely focused on what has appeared on the programme, and indeed on future stories under consideration by the programme team.

Under the new system, the topics will be set by programme editors in two broad categories - Today's Debate and Coming Up. This will mean that much more of the messages posted will be relevant to the programme just broadcast, and future ideas which reporters and producers are working on. Under the old system, genuinely insightful postings or important story ideas were easily lost in old threads, and the proliferation of topics on the site made it all but impossible for programme staff to read them properly.

Now we will get a quick and concentrated reaction from listeners about the stories we have covered, and crucially solicit information and opinion in advance of broadcast. This takes our programme interactivity beyond the stage of 'e-mail us and tell us what you think'. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and other external message boards host an infinite number of topics, and you can post links to those from the Today site, so there is little risk that users won't find a berth for almost any topic they wish to discuss.

We very much hope that our existing board users will give the new system a try; we think they will find that their views and ideas figure more prominently in the programme as a result.