I read, as I do, Anthony Lilley’s column in Guardian Media about why newspapers are (still) getting it wrong on the web. He mentioned the launch of the London Paper’s website as part of the baffling battle of the London freepapers. The site is trying to build in user-generated content and, being interested in these things, I went and had a look.

Also as I do, I guessed at the website address and ended up on a fetching little site designed by one Thomas Harrison to pretend to sell fancy wallpaper in order to gain some e-commerce qualification I’ve never heard of.

His site was registered as www.londonpaper.co.uk, which must have pissed off the London Paper’s bosses when they were left having to use www.thelondonpaper.co.uk – particularly as young Mr Harrison tells us his preferred choice for his website name was www.monkeypaper.co.uk. He says he rejected monkeypaper (and his other choice monkeypoo) because it didn’t say a lot about selling wallpaper. Probably would have been a better choice for selling newspapers though.

In anycase, unlike Mr Harrison’s entirely user-generated website, I couldn’t find anything from the good and less good people of London on the London News website - apart from the odd comment in response to a zillion desperate plugs to ‘TELL US WHAT YOU THINK’.

Like Anthony Lilley, I’m baffled as to why any newspaper thinks all it has to do is just ask its readers to send them stuff and they’ll be queuing up to let the website editor decide whether to publish their pictures and prose. The power and the glory of the web means anyone who has anything to say can, like Mr Harrison, just set up their own website.