May 25, 2015 2 min read

Your name. Your address. And your phone number.

Those are three of the things we need in order to publish your letters to the editor. We like receiving those letters, because they give us an indication of what readers are thinking and what their concerns are. They can set the stage for lively and fruitful debate both within these pages and within the broader community.

Nothing frustrates us more than receiving a letter without a mailing address or a phone number. We like to have those for verification purposes.

Also, keep in mind your letters will be subject to editing. We do that for the sake of clarity, length, grammar and accuracy. We don’t try to change the gist of what anyone is trying to say, but long tangential asides, personal attacks and excessive wordiness will make a letter ripe for judicious paring. Keep in mind what Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “It is my ambition to say in 10 sentences what others say in a whole book.” The same notion should be applied to letters.

And be forewarned: a letter will be rejected if the person sending it states that they do not want it to be edited or that the letter run “as is.”

We also don’t run letters submitted anonymously or form letters. We also don’t run letters thanking individuals for acts of kindness. While such acts lift the spirits, you should send a note or otherwise thank the individual who carried out the act of kindness. They will appreciate it.

So don’t be shy. Have your say. Send a letter.