adding my comment to the deluge...

While the "older" generation -- writers, let's say, over 35 -- seem to have all kinds of issues with reader feedback (which have been ably analysed by others), I think this issue will disappear.

Fact is, anyone under the age of thirty has grown up in a "two-way" culture. We know how things work, we know what trolls are, we know that nice people sometimes get very mean when they're behind an anonymous screen, and our hides are tougher.

Many of us who write for print (I am one) cut our teeth on the internet, and I think all of us continue to maintain connections to the "internet world". It would be an information blackout if I had to unsubscribe to the specialized mailing lists and the free-for-alls of Salon's comment pages. In other words: we know reader feedback, we've been on both sides, and we're still in the thick of things (if anonymous or silent.)

I very much doubt that we'll still be having these debates in, say, 2017.

I have never posted to a Salon article before, but I had to do it this time. When you first started posting reader letters I was intrigued and entertained. Then, as Gary Kamiya puts it, the "knaves, blowhards, nuts" etc started posting and what at first was fun turned ugly fast. I was delighted by the "only editor's choices" filter so I didn't have to slog through all the mud. But I'd be happier to see even more discernment over the posts. Freedom of expression is a great thing in theory, but it can get abused quickly. As a longtime reader and subscriber, I'm all for only having "editor's choices" and squelching the bile producers.

Good luck with whatever reforms you make.

TReese

Of late, I am hard pressed to take anything Gary Kamiya writes, seriously at all. So what forced me to even read this self-serving diatribe? The patronizing "nasty Calibans" to be sure and in the very first paragraph "creeps, narcissists and wannabe Byrons" who do not fawn and drool over his insidious rantings on race and matters Edward Said.

Kamiya writes, "The letters pages of Salon, like every other online magazine that doesn't filter its posts, is a classic spaghetti western -- the good, the bad and a really heavy dose of Eli Wallach." The truth is that readers are as well subjected to a smorgasbord of writers like a classic spaghetti western -- the good, the bad and a really heavy dose of Gary Kamiya. I thought the magazine got rid of that red diaper-baby-turned-right wing blowhard David Horrorwitz. Has he been replaced?

The saying goes, if you can dish it out, you aught to be able to take it.

Thank you for writing this article, Gary. It's about time. The pervasive cruelty amongst online posters astonishes me. For all y'all hatin' on this article, please consider this: Gary wasn't saying you shouldn't voice your opinions. He wasn't saying that only certain ideas should be given voice in the forums. He was simply suggesting that we should remember that there is a *human being* on the business end of what you're writing ... and that you should thus respond in a way that respects that human being's, um, well, humanity. Say what you have to say. Be proud of your intelligence, ideas, and writing. But if you can't find the words to express your opinions in a thoughtful, considered, respectful way ... then, well, maybe you're not quite the writer or thinker you fancy yourself.

And to everybody who seems to think sensitivity is some sort of crime, and that all us thin-skinned folk should just keep our mouths shut if we don't like being verbally abused: think about all the voices you are implicitly trying to silence. The exquisitely sensitive artists whose heightened awareness is the cornerstone of their gifts. Or, if you would argue against their artistic talent, the people who had enough courage to speak their truth despite their own fear of what people might say, and despite their own anxiety. Many, many writers suffer from depression and anxiety. That they manage to do what they do despite these obstacles in a feat similar to swimming for miles with ten-pound weights strapped to one's body. Being able to speak your truth takes guts, no matter how you slice it. Being able to put the most vulnerable parts of yourself on public display because you feel it's important, particularly if you're sensitive to begin with, is downright heroic. So, even if you don't agree with what people have to say in one particular instance, think of all the future words you may be destroying simply because you happen to need to feel superior to someone else on some particular day.

With respect to what Kamiya has to say about online posts by assholes, Ayalet Waldman was/is god-awful. Beyond that, Debra Dickinson is willfully malevolent and stupid, so, who could feel bad for what some geeks type into their keyboards at 8am about her.

I very much doubt that we'll still be having these debates in, say, 2017

That's probably true, just like how in 2007 nobody really can argue effectively that obscene music lyrics shouldn't be blasted into the streets from car stereos.

Careful, young 'un, because not everything that happens constitutes progress.

Ok, to all those people out there bashing Salon's Editor for cruising for clicks, check this....

Salon's Balance Sheet....Scroll Down to the bottom and glance at the miracle that is this website....

http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/balanceSheet.asp?WTmodLOC=C2-FindOut-3-BalanceSheet

These people are over 90 million dollars in debt with a quarterly revenue of just over a million dollars.

My question is not - where is the accountablity to their stockholders --- looks like those debts may never be repaid

But - How do they do it!!??

Why do these writers continue to get paid? It is some sort of business miracle...

As far as I can tell, opinion and journalism are the same thing anymore...to say that Salon is only an opinion magazine is asinine

If I were 90 million in the hole and wanted to keep above water I sure as hell would resort to whatever it took to keep going...

I mean, give these writers some credit (pun intended)

PS. I think the biggest prob with the letter section is not enough people ask questions...to many people just spout off whatever is on their mind and don't direct their inquiries towards the writers or other letter writers....do we want a forum to voice our, often insignificant ideas, or to learn something? I would prefer the latter

Thanks!!

Good luck Salon....