corrections@ft.com

Many years ago, before Lionel Barber took over the helm of The Financial Times, I e-mailed the then-editor, Andrew Gowers, to the effect that corrections would be much more efficient if a separate e-mail address existed just for that purpose, to wit: corrections@ft.com

He responded that the system in place, in which corrections were sent to letters@ft.com, worked pretty well, but that he'd take it up with his associates.

Lo and behold, within a week or two a line appeared right under the letters and corrections on the editorial page with a small black square followed by "For corrections e-mail: corrections@ft.com"

In the past year the black square has changed to a black circle but otherwise my contribution appears six days a week, which I admit does cheer me up no end.

Like someone once said, "even a blind, anosmic pig...."

Well, guess what?

I had another flash of inspiration this morning and out of loyalty to the FT, decided to give them first dibs.

My idea: use Twitter for corrections.

So simple: set up a Twitter page (twitter.com/corrections@ft) and let readers directly post their corrections, as opposed to the now-tedious process of sending an email to the corrections@ft.com black hole (those who, like me, are wont to submit corrections will note that the New York Times always acknowledges receipt whereas the FT not only doesn't acknowledge receipt, it doesn't even inform you if the correction — or your letter, for that matter — will be published. I recall finding out years after the fact and only by chance that a letter I'd submitted had appeared in the FT).

To jumpstart things, I tweeted about this BrainGenius™ stroke of insight 15 minutes ago (top).