If President George W Bush was merely a click of the mouse away for people wanting to send him emails, reaching him online under the new system on the White House website is proving to be complicated and less user-friendly.

In the past, to tell President Bush -- or at least those assigned to read his mail -- what was on your mind it was necessary only to sit down at a personal computer connected to the Internet and dash off a note to president@whitehouse.gov, the New York Times said.

But under a system introduced on the White House Website last week, those who want to send a message to Bush must now navigate as many as nine web pages and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it.

Completing a message to the president also requires choosing a subject from the provided list, then entering a full name, organisation, address and email address. Once the message is sent, the writer must wait for an automated response to the email address listed, asking whether the addressee intended to send the message.

The message is delivered only after the person using that email address confirms it, the paper said.

The paper quoted Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesman, describing the system as an 'enhancement' intended to improve communications.

But, some experts in Internet usability, the NYT said, think the new method for sending messages is not doing much to enhance communications between the White House and the public.

"Over all, it's a very cumbersome process," said Jakob Nielsen, an authority on Web design. "It's probably designed deliberately to cut down on their email."