For those who hate to get ink-stained fingers every Thursday when they read The Nicholls Worth, there is an option. The Nicholls Worth Online began with the first edition of the Spring 2001 semester and will continue this semester.

After arriving at www.thenichollsworth.com, visitors can read headlines and articles, can participate in online polls and can find out what people are saying on the forums.

And if a person becomes a registered member of the site, the access level increases.

Registered members can submit letters to the editor, post to the forums and receive newsletters via e-mail. The newsletter includes lead story headlines, a notification of a new online edition, and the occasional special message for readers.

In the first month, the site received 1,696 hits, according to data provided by College Publisher, the company which handles the technical aspects of the site. The first week alone, there were 741 hits. This was more than one-tenth of the student body, if each hit was a different person.

Student editors maintain the content and minor details of the site, such as reporter biographies and polls.

The site is not updated until late Thursday afternoon, so those who cannot wait to find out what is happening on campus should continue to pick up hard copies of the paper. But the online edition serves as a way for those who were included in stories to send links to family and friends who do not have access to the real paper.

Stories are archived each week, so any story published last semester or during the summer is still available for viewing.

The results of the online poll are published in the editorial section of the paper the next week. Votes are counted from Thursday evening until Wednesday at 9 p.m.