Merc columnist Mike Cassidy is asking readers to e-mail him with ideas about how to improve his newspaper. He writes:

Silicon Valley is filled with brilliant minds and good hearts who want better things for this newspaper. Tell us: What is it that draws you subscribers to the Mercury News every day? What would get you non-subscribers to join those who do subscribe?

What would you pay for on the Web? Are there benefits print subscribers should receive that Web users don’t?

What are the potential new business models?

Anyone?

Cassidy made it clear that he doesn’t want to discuss claims about political bias. “Let’s move past simplistic arguments,” he writes, “and get on to something fresh, something stunning, something that might change the course of an industry or at least one newspaper.”