Notice I didn't say newspaper. Keep reading.

The first person, who e-mailed, asked why we had not posted news of Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman's arrest on OrangeChat, our blog at blogs@newsobserver.com/orangechat.

For those who have not read it, the blog is an Internet site where we break some local news, ask readers to help us on stories and post commentary so readers can respond to it.

The last feature is the best part about the blog. Right now readers can't post comments directly on our online stories, so the blog is a great way to tell us what we got wrong (it happens) or ask for more information.

I told this reader we had reported the incident in Anderson Community Park in The News & Observer. We'd also reprinted part of that story in last Sunday's Chapel Hill News.

That did not satisfy him.

He implied we were keeping it out of the blog for political reasons. The same criticism appeared on the OrangePolitics blog. Some posters suggested the moderator had not started a separate "thread" about the arrest because Coleman is an OP contributor and reflects its predominant political values.

The reader got fed up with me. I asked him to be patient. His e-mails were teaching me. Until last week, I had been thinking of the blog as an "extra."

Let me explain.

We break most news at www.newsobserver.com. We report daily stories in The News & Observer and more local or less timely stories in the Chapel Hill News. For CHN readers who don't get the N&O, we reprint excerpts of our top daily stories on page 3.

But after staff writer Jessica Rocha posted Coleman's 911 call (such calls are a public record) on our blog, people started posting comments.

By mid-day we had received so many that we decided to publish some in Wednesday's Chapel Hill News. The comments, including from people who said they had witnessed the incident, enriched our coverage.

Which leads to the second reader's complaint last week.

She called after the Wednesday paper came out to criticize us for not having more about Coleman's arrest in the paper.

"Did you read the paper?" I asked.

"I don't get the paper," she said. "I read it online."

Well, not everything in the print paper always makes it online. And even when it does, it can be hard to find. I asked her to get the paper, but she said she worked in printing for so long she could no longer stomach the smell of the ink.

All of which goes to show it's a bigger challenge to meet readers' demands for news where and when they want it.

We're trying -- with a daily paper, a community paper, two online sites, the blog and now a weekly video Webcast -- and I haven't even touched on mobile devices (mostly because I don't understand them).

So, as much as I hate to say it, keep complaining. It lets us know you're out there, wherever you are.