Welcome, Des Moines Register Readers

In light of the decision by The Des Moines Register to begin charging for online content, we thought it’d be a good idea to review how you can use West Des Moines Patch to help make your life ridiculously easy – for free.

Patch will continue to report what matters most to you and continue to be a community hub for news, conversation and announcements that you can count on every day. We’ll continue to provide our own reporting and also let you know what’s going on in The Register and other area news outlets. And we continue to invite you to contribute to West Des Moines Patch – your site – with pictures, videos, events, announcements or by sharing your voices on topics of your choosing.

With that in mind, here is a reminder of how you can use Patch:

Comment. If you have relevant information to add to an article, jump in and make a comment. We'll follow up and possibly add it to related articles in the future. Most community stories continue to evolve after they are reported—you can be a real-time source by commenting.

Connect with the local editor. Email West Des Moines Patch  site editor Beth Dalbey at beth.dalbey@patch.com if you have any tips or information to share.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. When we write an article, we tweet the news and share it with our followers. Want the info the fastest way possible? Follow @WDesMoinesPatch on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Get the iPhone or Droid app. Your smartphone is an awesome tool for getting the info on what's going on in your community. Click here to get the Patch app for free on iTunes. For information about the Droid app, click here.

Take pictures and videos. Patch has launched a new Pics & Clips gallery, where you can post any of your own photography. Have a cool photo of something you spotted around town? Share it with us. Cool video? Share that, too.

Add to the events calendar. Have an event you want to make the community aware of? Don't be shy. Post it in our events calendar for all to see. It's free!
Volunteer. The same goes for our announcements section on Patch. Are you looking for volunteers for a service project? Share it.

Blog. Everybody in any community has a story to tell. Don't keep it to yourself. Sign up to be a blogger on Patch.