TalkBack Reader Response System

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The TalkBack Reader Response System^[1] was one of the first systems used on the Internet to allow people to respond to articles posted on a website.^[2] It was first used at Jesse Berst's ZDNet Anchordesk news site. It was created by Jon C. A. DeKeles.

The TalkBack system of Anchordesk allowed readers, once they came to a site, to respond by a form on the screen. This data was then sent by email to the editors, and was also written to a data file. The data was imported into a custom Access Database Publishing system. The editor could approve the post, and also respond. It was one of the first interactive systems created for use on the Internet with a news publication.

Anchordesk was one of the first sites that used email to send news to readers on a daily basis. At one point, emails went out to almost 3 million people a day.

• "Sidebar: Jesse Berst: The Personality Factor". TheFreeLibrary.com. 15 November 2000.
• Kaiser, Nathan (15 November 2000). "Interview w/ Jesse Berst, CEO of IZ.com". Npost.