Take pen in hand (but use your own words, please)

Long before the word blog was a gleam in some Web pioneer's goo-goo-googly eye, there was another way in which average people with something to say about the world got their message out. The letter to the editor of the local newspaper.

Even in this Digital Age of tweets, Web comments, Facebook walls and (alas) e-mail spam, the letters columns remain a popular, lively and unique place to find the community in conversation, setting its own agenda and writing in its own language.

We welcome and encourage anyone with anything to say to make use of the forum. We want to keep it lively, diverse and personal. It is a, shall we say, more disciplined forum than the freewheeling ego-fests you sometimes find online, requiring identification and a certain measure of decorum and responsibility, but even so, people sometimes take advantage of the opportunity.

I'm speaking here of people who have a point of view on a topic, but lack the passion or energy to write about it themselves. As it happens, the Web has come along with an option for these people that complicates things for others who want to engage in this exchange of ideas.

Whatever the topic - health care, the environment, abortion, political reform, school vouchers, left-wing, right-wing, you name it - there is some group out there with a hired writer, collecting well-honed "talking points" and offering a polished point of view for them to copy and send in to their local newspaper. Just select the text, copy to your clipboard, paste into your word processor and, bing-bang-boom, instant passion for hundreds, perhaps thousands of people to shower on their local communities, presenting a consistent theme and giving the impression of a groundswell of agreement.

Clearly, this is not the point of our letters columns, so we are careful to watch for scripted campaigns. writers who have simply co-opted a form letter, or portions of a form letter. We are constantly identifying and rejecting letters that clearly are not the work of the author.

This behavior runs counter to our instincts, however. The Daily Herald, in particular, seeks to publish as many letters as we can. We want everyone to feel they have access. We are committed to providing a forum for a wide range of views and for letting as many people as possible have their say, whatever their responsibly stated point of view. But, we also want readers of the column to recognize it as an honest, as well as open, forum.

We know that some writers may hear or see remarks somewhere that find a way into their own thinking or writing. Obviously, if they plagiarize, we reject them. If they are people honestly providing their own opinions, we allow them. Distinguishing between the two points can sometimes be more art than science. If we must err, we'll err on the side of inclusion, but we still resist orchestrated campaigns on any subject.

We ask writers to keep their thoughts to about 300 words, and we restrict them to one letter a month to make sure everyone who wants to has access. We require the author's name, town and phone number so we can verify them as the writer, and we welcome a picture. We edit if we need to for space or taste, but our goal is a vibrant, diverse conversation.

Send your letter to fencepost@dailyherald.com, and check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dhopinion and on Twitter @dh opinion. We hope that if the mood strikes you, you'll take up your pen, or more likely word processor, and pour your heart into a letter to share with your neighbors and your community. Just, please, make sure it's your own heart.