LAST month The National and Believe in Scotland launched the Yes Challenge, an initiative aiming to help convert undecided voters over to the independence cause.
As part of the challenge we wanted to get 5000 people to sign the pledge, vowing to nominate somebody who is on the fence about Scotland’s place in the Union.
In return we’re giving signees a code granting 12 weeks’ free access to The National – with no card details required on registration.
Those signing up for the free National subscription will not only have access to the daily newspaper, but we’re also sending them a special new series of 24 articles which build the case for independence.
As well as that we’re running a series of exclusive virtual events hosted by experts to help answer questions they have on independence.
We successfully hit out 5000 people target, started sending out codes and tomorrow we are launching the Open Minds section of the project.
This is where we’ll directly send the undecided subscribers a special series of 24 articles helping to bring them round to Yes.
We’re excited to go on this journey with undecided voters, and we’re confident we’ll see views change over the next 12 weeks.
In the coming weeks, only subscribers will be able to comment on The National articles. Subscribe now or log in to make sure you stay a part of the conversation.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions. What should we do with our second vote in 2021? What happens if Westminster says no to indyref2?
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversation, register under fake names, and post vile abuse. We’ve had hundreds of emails from you complaining about this, asking us to take steps to ensure that these people aren’t given a platform on our site.
We’re listening to you, and here’s how we plan to make that happen.
We have decided to make the ability to comment only available to our 10,000 paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them.
We’ll be monitoring this change over the first few weeks, and we’re keen to know your thoughts. Email us at letters@thenational.scot if you want to have your say.
Callum Baird, Editor of The National