Our Spotted site is now fully operational. The problem is that too many of you read the previous sentence and just shrugged your shoulders.

In addition to our news Web site, www.clantonadvertiser.com, we here at The Clanton Advertiser also maintain a photo sharing Web site, spotted.clantonadvertiser.com (no “www” at the beginning). The site can also be found by visiting our news site then clicking on either the “Spotted” link or advertisement at the top right of the page.

We think Spotted is pretty neat, and we’re sure you will, too. But first you have to try it out, so I’m going to try to provide some reasons for our readers to do just that.

Spotted is the home of all the pictures we take at events in our coverage area – plus some that aren’t in our coverage area. Right now, in the “We Spotted” section of the site, there are 84 pictures from Isabella’s volleyball tournament on Saturday, 147 photos from the Jemison-Calera football game on Friday night, 11 photos from Grandparents Day at Clanton Elementary School and much more. For the most part, every photo we take will be put up on Spotted. We put some pictures in the newspaper and some on our news Web site, but Spotted provides us the opportunity to make every picture we take available to our readers.

Now, users have the option to buy our pictures (that’s what I meant by fully operational). You might remember this feature from the “dotphoto” site that was linked to our old Web site. We now offer a more user-friendly format. Most of our photos, even the older ones, are available for purchase in several different sizes (there are also options to buy mugs, T-shirts and several other items that feature the picture of your choice).

The feature that makes Spotted unique from what we’ve had in the past is that users have the ability to create their own profile and upload their own pictures. Not enough people are taking advantage of this opportunity. We have readers bring us pictures all the time. These pictures run in the newspaper once. You can upload the same picture to Spotted, however, without leaving home, and the picture will be on the site forever for all to see.

Never before have our readers been able to show off their children or grandchildren just because. Spotted is a way to prove to your friends that fish was as big as you said and a way to keep up with relatives and neighbors by seeing what pictures they have been posting. You can even comment on their pictures and send them a personal message.

The process needed to become a user is simple (if you’ve registered for our news site then you are already registered for Spotted), but let us know if you have any problems. We’ll be happy to walk you through the site so that you can begin taking advantage of an exciting new feature of the Advertiser.