Letters to the Sports Editor

i could've written this post except we're tiny and it was my job to delete the libelous crap. we were averaging 2600 unique hits a day (quite a large number for a paper with 6000 circulation) when online feedback was totally anonymous and now it's like a ghost town since we require registration. funny thing is that i've gotten e-mail complaints calling us cowards for stopping the anonymous feedback. hmmm, they're afraid to post their name with their opinion and we're the cowards, go figure.

 

same on this end.

 

Oh, the irony of this sentence being posted on SportsJournalists.com

 

We usually run our on the Opinion page.

However, sometimes our SE asks for feedback on a topic and we run sometimes a page of letters. And it doesn't take long to get those either.

He also has an online letters section. Sometimes ripping us and he responds.

 

Something similar here, I call it, "From our Readers."

 

Put them in a special rectangular file beside my desk that is usually lined with a plastic bag. Someone must do something with them because the next day, they are gone. Oh well.

 

So, all you have to do is whisper "Homo erectus" and the hit counter starts humming.

 

I wrote a column one time saying that's where anonymous letters end up. Haven't gotten too many since then.

 

I don't like the Talkback stuff, but I firmly believe that letters about sports should run in the sports section.

Of course they should be signed.

People read the heck out of letters, and I think it's great when you have several of them to run.

The paper I was at had an open Page 3 for local and often ran them there. Said paper also has a local columnist who generates letters. Good stuff.

 

I understand what you're saying, and we've debated it. Here's what we come up with, and I don't think it's a rationalization.

Whether we like anonymous shots or not, whether we think these people are low-lifes hiding behind anonymity, isn't the question. The question that matters is whether the readers get fired up by them. And you KNOW people like to see their own words in print.

Oh, the Penn State/ND flame wars we have...