From the 12/19/06 end of year Economist:

"The conversation of the French salons and dinner tables became as stylised as a ballet. The basic skills brought to the table were expected to include politesse (sincere good manners), esprit (wit), galanterie (gallantry), complaisance (obligingness), enjouement (cheerfulness) and flatterie. More specific techniques would be required as the conversation took flight. A comic mood would require displays of raillerie (playful teasing), plaisanterie (joking), bons mots (epigrams), traits and pointes (rhetorical figures involving “subtle, unexpected wit”, according to Benedetta Craveri, a historian of the period), and, later, persiflage (mocking under the guise of praising). Even silences had to be finely judged. The Duc de La Rochefoucauld distinguished between an “eloquent” silence, a “mocking” silence and a “respectful” silence. The mastery of such “airs and tones”, he said, was “granted to few”."

Apparently "Salon" is kind of a misnomer since politics was off limits to the neutered aristocracy that engaged in such pursuits. Perhaps the fact that we've gone beyond persiflage to outright mockery is to be regretted, but a true "Salon" would definitely involve a conversation, not a lecture.

Thanks, Suzy, for my laugh of the day. And just as I am getting out of work!

Since I have been down with a cold and missed the initial rush to comment, I am truly grouped with the hoi polloi. However, I am still happy to celebrate my ability to comment on the articles in Salon, along with the rest of the microcosm that makes up Salon's readership.

I love the new letters section. I am often more entertained and informed by the readers' responses than by the articles. I love that I can interact in almost real-time with other dedicated readers in our responses to the author and the occasional crank and Repug who got lost on his way to the Fox news site. It is actually a joy to respond to some of these troglodytes, and to watch their sputterings erupt when they are (finally) challenged on their lack of reasoning. Where else does this really happen? Certainly not in the MSM, and it is about time we get to pile on!

Other blogs usually have a greek chorus of regular readers and don't have Salon's demographics. I think many of them prefer that echo chamber of yes-men, even the liberal sites. I think Salon has done their readership a huge service by instituting the open letters section, and I hope that Salon's writing staff doesn't close it down because of hurt feelings. I see this article as a confirmation that our very emotional, yet necessary, debates are a central part of Salon's community.

Thanks.

Count me as among those you lost with "Al Gore invented the internet".

Salon should make the rules to eliminate all the angry ad hominem attacks, et alia, that do not show fundamental courtesy. Say so and stick to it, or put them on a special page and let readers have a go at them (delete?).

I like reading replies but mostly they are a turn off--who has the time?

Much is like hate radio and tells you more about the writer than the subject.

There is no need for most of this to be published, so if it is not worth editing, DELETE FOR LACK OF FUNDAMENTAL COURTESY.

People do not have a right to say anything they want on your site, out of respect to other readers let alone the hard working writers. (I labored over this letter and it is still not well written!)

...why does everyone presume that posting anonymously makes one anonymous?

Couldn't Salon easily log IP addresses?

One problem not mentioned:

There seems to be a general idea out there that anything from the blogosphere or from anonynous parts of the Internet is correct, even more correct that anything in the "mainstream" media. So you might research something extensively, think about the implications, work through the problems to develop understanding -- and then someone blasts something in that might be wrong, totally or in part -- and many readers assume it must be right.

So while there is definitely that sea of expertise out there, there is also a sea of error and misinformation.

As a journalist, I learned long ago that it is true that there is always someone out there who knows more about what you are writing about than you do. But there are also many more people who don't know anything about it, or what they do know turns out to be wrong.

Any journalist knows that many, if not most, of the "tips" you get turn out to be wrong, or at the very least the story is not quite what the tipster thought or said it was.

That sort of thing used to get a limited hearing -- say, just the friends of the tipster. Now, the tipster can broadcast it -- right, wrong or misunderstood -- for mass consumption.

So a big problem in this instant age is that people all the time write things that are flat out wrong, or partially wrong, or give a misapprehension, and if it isn't corrected, it infects the debate; but to correct it and the other errors being splashed about takes more time than you have.

Wikipedia might be self-correcting, but elsewhere, it's a problem: someone writes story; someone sends an e-mail that says something is wrong in the story; someone else contradicts that: who's right? The story, the critic, the critic of the critic?

It can become a huge black hole that swallows a lot of light.

It's not so much that it's inaccurate (though it is), or that it isn't funny (though it isn't), but that it's soooo tired and lame.

Here's a handy rule of thumb for lazy writers: if Leno has already made the joke, don't go there again. That way lies hackery and lameness.

Maybe next Time Mr. Kamiya can split sides with a topical Judge Ito zinger or a sidesplitting "Where's the Beef" reference.

That Al Gore internet shit is just played out.

Posters should never disparage writers of articles with personal attacks. However, I am glad we have finally come to a day when we can correct obvious mistakes in articles. Perhaps we will see the end of lying, "disinformation" and out and out erroneous statements made by media pretending to be unbiased.

That said; keep up the good work Salon. I not only salute all the excellent writers at Salon, but whoever is personally responsible for allowing the immediate posting by readers. I am already so used to it, that I get irritated with other news sources for not allowing it.

I read Salon every day (nearly) and usually spend too much time on it.