i Editor's Letter: We want to know what you think of i (yes, even the bad stuff)

What do you like about i? What should we do differently? We’d like to know. Editors are reluctant to tinker for the sake of it – it’s easy to irritate readers by changing things unnecessarily. But we always have one eye on how to improve the paper: innovations, evolutions, finally tackling the blindingly obvious...

While we conduct focus groups and reader research, at i we’ve found the best way to give you more of what you want is to listen to you. A radical idea. Even scathing criticism is welcome. “Duff’s obfuscating comments are a disgrace.” That was recent fan mail from London i reader Burt Munro, on a Letter from the Editor about negotiating with Isis. Burt, you live near one of my favourite football pubs. I’ll buy you a pint one day to make up for it. “Oliver Duff you are a coward and apologist... You are part of the problem but too afraid to make a stand.” That was Mark C.

“I shall know when women have achieved true equality,” writes Kathy Bennetts-Brown, “when five out of the 10 sports pages in i will be devoted to women’s sport.” We try to take that sort of thing on board. Over the past six months we’ve introduced new columnists, culture pages, puzzles, money and property coverage, extra sport, more science, women’s sport and world affairs, more space for news and for readers’ views...

It’s difficult to please everyone, obviously, although we try. One columnist last week attracted the following remarks, which landed in my inbox 30 seconds apart: “Fantastic! Nail on the head!”, and from another reader: “You wasted a full page with a childish use of irony... this reader won’t be returning until the level of contributor improves.”

Martin Lawrence, meanwhile, complains: “i is still tremendous value and a great read. The thing is, since I buy the bloody thing every day my book reading has suffered. Still, not a bad problem to have.”

If you want to get in touch, my email address here is i@independent.co.uk

Twitter.com: @olyduff