..filtering, ratings, or any other suggestion that others have made. I don't think there's a problem here. I believe the letters section has been a great success in bringing much needed fresh air and new views into Salon. It seems that the letters have made more people more interested in what Salon--and its readers--have to say.

I think these letters work as a true PUBLIC FORUM where contrary opinion at least has a chance to be heard, whether people want to hear it or not. Filtering and other schemes will only turn the letters into another vapid "community" where conformity and consensus opinion will be enforced by the smallest minded members of the community--as in Salon's much loathed and lamented Table Talk.

Yes, the letters can be pretty disconcerting to the writers. But what did you expect? People vary wildly in their views, their manners, their intelligence, their desires, and their backgrounds. Write about ANYTHING and some people won't like it and they will express their opinion in the bluntest and meanest way possible. This was always true but now we can see it as a plain fact of life. Why would we want to hide this fact of life and pretend it isn't so? It is so. Let's accept it and deal with it and learn from it. That's what the Internet is for--to find out what other people think.

Note that no one on the Internet represents anyone but themselves. Since some people choose to post while others choose not to, there is no such thing as a random selection of opinion on the Internet. If a selection isn't random, then it can't be representative. Hence there is no guarantee that ANY response you get for an article will actually reflect what your readers think.

If five, or fifty, or five thousand people write in and say they don't like your article, that doesn't mean anything. Everyone else might still like it--it just might be those people who responded who have a problem with it.

You can't take Internet responses as generally representative of anything. You can only take them as particular responses, some of which may be valuable (as I hope this letter is). That's why filtering is wrong, because filtering will often only remove the particular while leaving the falsely representative.

The fact is that in spite of all the shouting writers in the Internet age are still left mostly in the dark as to how their articles are coming across--just as they ever were. Feedback on the Internet simply isn't valid. The only solution is to do what good writers and editors have always done; rely on your own best judgement as to what is a good article and what is worth saying and what is the best way to say it--and try to stick to that judgement in spite of what hundreds or even thousands of people might say against you.

...and his words (along with the Indian incident and the plagarism incident) show that his judgment is off the rails.

Apparently he thinks he can run his mouth off and he can't make a mistake. Apparently he hasn't thought about why he should be president and what he should do for the country. Apparently he doesn't understand the position blacks are in this country. He's just thoughtless and that shows poor judgment.

Sorry, but I never was a Biden fan.

...this speaks well to Obama's decision to run for president NOW instead of hanging around in the Senate for a few years to get 'seasoned.'

Going by the recent statements of Senators Biden, Kerry, Boxer, Allen, and Lott, apparently all that happens when you get 'seasoned' in the Senate is that you can no longer understand the words coming out of your own mouth.

Let's have Obama run while he still has some connection with the real world out there.

...she won't be picking out the curtains for the Oval Office. That'll be Bill's job then.

GK is right that we need to work with the other side. Politics is a tug of a war game; either we pull them or they will pull us. Those who won't pull on the rope only help the other side.

In that light, those folks here who would rather vote for Nader, work for the Republicans, or see the country nuked than support Hillary are all just the same--helpers for the other side. All they do is lighten the load for the Republicans. Thanks a lot, comrades.

Hillary can get the nomination and she can win. What people on the Internet think about it doesn't mean a damn thing. Her vote on the war is no different from Biden's vote or Edward's vote or Kerry's vote. At every step of the way, the rantings and ravings of her enemies have only helped further her career and there's no reason to suspect the future will be different.

They ought to promote walking in LA. Now there's some rad-chic for you!

In fact, walking ought to be promoted everywhere. There should be trails and/or wide shoulders on every road so that bikers and walkers can use them.

The alternative is to just become a nation of fatties. Which is exactly what we have already become (me included, I have to admit).