Some of the respondents here have raised the question of why the respondents have raised the question of the truth of the letter. I guess some people are fine with any fiction as long as the narrative is correct (conservative small towns bad, masturbating women good), but some of us would prefer that an advice column not get taken over by purveyors of tawdry fiction. We want our tawdriness real, dammit!

Even if it's not real, we'd prefer plausibility. Fiction is not at its best if it is full of bad tropes and unlikely details. Look at the book and movie reviews here, or on sites with good reviews. Such complaints are common, and well-justified.

Add truth claims to the mix and you're going to get some irritation. If you were enjoying the lie, go on and enjoy it, but don't expect the rest of us to pretend that there's nothing questionable about this account.

Or you could postulate that the first respondent here programmed the rest to be skeptical. If you believe in media conspiracies and 9/11 Troofery, you will probably find it no great stretch to buy the LW's account, either. However, you're not exactly making a case for the sanity of your viewpoint.

Penthouse Forum letters, indeed. Maybe that will be the next business model Salon tries.

Or purchase some asshole-offset credits or something.

Salonistas are far too fond of deciding for everyone else what they should do and when they should do it. Keep your hands to yourself, idiots.

Would you rather John Edwards disappear entirely from public life and never know why? Is that actually better than reading about the reason?

Doesn't it concern you that the media outlets to which you afford credibility have done nothing to pursue this allegation?

Are you hoping that a mainstream media stranglehold on stories like this will keep them from coming out? If so, what are you assuming about the political interests of the mainstream media?

Let the Inquisition begin!

Her racist slur against "Obama boys" discredits her, and she has never apologized for it:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/04/14/obama_supporters/

Salon should fire her or have her issue an apology.

This issue isn't going away.

A study is released discussing the effectiveness of exercise for overweight women. Feminists complain that fat women are being singled out. If a study were released discussing the effectiveness of exercise for overweight men:

a) Feminists would complain that women's health issues were being ignored.

b) Feminists would complain that only women are asked to control their diets when overweight.

c) Feminists would stop complaining.

It's the syrupy, chirrupy, trivial crap and the carping of talentless hacks.

Georgetown has it right: LW, you're the user here. Your passive-aggressive attempts to put the blame on your friend (to whom you allege such devotion!) stink to high heaven.

If the sexes in this letter were reversed, people would be more inclined to have noticed that. Luckily, Georgetown is not a sexist jerk.

Your wife has moved on. That part, Cary will tell you. What he won't tell you is what you need to do next.

Get a lawyer. Tell him you want a divorce. Do what he tells you.

Don't warn her, don't tell her. Initiative is the only thing on your side here. She may be making the same move even as you speak. If you want to hold on to any of your assets, if you want to have any basis for a reasonable future, make your move before she makes hers.

It's over. Now act in your interest. If it helps you, use your hurt as a way to make yourself do what you must. Let the hurt become anger, if you can, as long as you can keep it under control. It may be irrational, but if you can use it to get through what comes next, it may be helpful. At the very least you shouldn't close yourself off to such a feeling, if it exists.

Good luck. If you make your move now, you may manage to avoid the screwing most men take in a divorce. Don't worry about how she'll feel or about preserving a relationship with her. By the time the divorce is over, that will have died anyway, and you will regret not having taken the initiative.

LW, if you want to take a chance on the goodwill and cooperation of a woman who has moved on and the fairness of a divorce court that will not be fair to you, feel free to roll the dice. However, a divorce need not cost tens of thousands of dollars; that's a lie. A divorce that doesn't go well for you can easily cost you that much in lost opportunities and unreasonable stipulations.

If you're sure she will remain reasonable, good luck to you...but her incentives mostly lie in the other direction. People sometimes act against their interest, but it's unwise to count on it.

No, you're not alone in reading that tone into Price's article.

Accountability is for men and help is for women, in the moral calculus of Broadsheet writers.

Was that so hard to think of?

When I see this kind of concern for boys, maybe I'll listen. Until then, it's cowshit sexism.

I guess that could work. I've seen it fail, as it did when Plastic.com turned the short bus over to its passengers, but Plastic lacked a flagship publication to drive its quality. It'll be interesting to see if the concept works better with an editor-controlled flagship.

I could easily see that stupid premise for an article making it into Broadsheet.