Final Summation

This semester I tracked the public reader feedback on the Austin American Statesman's website. This reader feedback came in the form of comments, which the publication not only allows, but supports. Public reader feedback is a great way to enhance the readers experience and bring the readers closer to a publication. There does not seem to be a community of regular commenters, and there really are not a lot of commenters on this site. There are some comments and occasionally many comments. This publication is really just starting to take advantage of public reader feedback. They are moving towards incorporating much more feedback into their website and in the future they'll be a more user friendly institution.

Promoting public reader feedback is a great tool for any publication. By allowing readers to comment, it lets them feel more connected to the publication. Seeing their name on the official website makes them a part of it. Also, readers who comment, will come back to the same article, in order to see if anyone has responded to their comment. This creates a habit of returning to the publication and cements occasional readers as regular readers. Having comments also expands the articles. Here's an example of an article, in the Statesman, where the comments tell an entirely different side of the story, though I can't be sure of their validity. In response to the article BATPAC Endorses Meeker, Morrison, by Sarah Coppola on March 18, 2008, there is a local politcs debate about the candidates endorsement by BATPAC. Foes and fans of BATPAC bring forth far more information than is mentioned in the initial article. They mention so much, and I am so unfamiliar with this particular election and the validity of these statements, that I couldn't even begin to give examples without accidentally taking a large bias. An interested party would really need to read through the article, and the 28 lengthy comments, in order to make up their own mind. Sometimes, it's not a full on debate that follows an article, but just one comment which gives additional useful information to the reader. The article John McCain’s Daughter Loves Indie Rock, by Joe Gross on March 20, 2008, is only one sentence long (though two if you count the title, which needs to be read in order to understand the article) and reads "Attention Transmission promoter Graham Williams: She is a huge Dead Milkmen fan." There is only one comment, but it's more informative, and longer, than the article itself. It states "By Michael Corcoran. Joe- You are aware that Sid McCain was, for several years, a publicist for Virgin Records, I believe? I think she was at Arista before that." Comments do not always give the reader more positive information. You'll often find comments that are just useless banter. In response to the article Former Farmers Market Site For Sale Again, by M.B. Taboada on April 24, 2008, there is a comment that reads "S wrote: Curse the man who denies me my Brentwood Tavern Mullet Burger!!" Though it was on topic, this comment doesn't give the reader more useful information. You'll find debates within the comments that get pretty aggressive. Every once in a while, you will run into someone who has a radically negative view they'd like to share. It's not always clear whether a person like this is serious or just trying to rile people up. Either way, it does not add positive content to the article. There's a prime example of this type of situation in response to the article What Do You Think Of The Required Reading In Your Child’s School? Is The Material Age Appropriate?, by an unlisted author on March 25, 2008. Throughout the comments, there is someone named Bob, who posts a slew of negative responses. Here are a few of the choice excerpts "The children of today are practically all retarded compared to when I was just starting elementary school.", "Kids that use “text speak” on papers should be throttled", and "If those damn kids do not get out of the road, let Darwinish weed them out! In fact, I think if you can hit them and make their mothers cry, you get an extra ten points. Twenty if the mother is giving birth to another one of her twenty children when it happens." (It's also worth noting that he posted that last one three times in a row.). The responses to this article are enough to turn off most readers. Even with the negative comments that will inevitably pop up, it is useful for the site to allow comments. There are more positive comments than negative, and the good out weighs the bad.

The Austin American Statesman has recently given more attention to enhancing public reader feedback. When I started tracking the website, it did allow readers to comment on every article, but didn't do much else to promote response. The only way to know that you could even comment on an article was to happen to notice the option at the bottom of an article, or notice the comments below, if there happened to be any. They did list how many comments an article had next to the link for it, but only about half the time. It wasn't so easy to track the comments initially, though the website obviously would not expect someone to be tracking them and wouldn't be catering to that idea. Now the site has added new features that make it much easier to comment, and much more obvious that the option is open. Right on the front page, though it is at the bottom, they have the most commented on and most recommended link. This feature is accompanied by a list of the top commented articles. They also started a section for reader's blogs. This is a great tool to get readers to come to your site everyday. On the front page they have a link for the most commented on and most recommended reader's blogs, with a listing of the most commented on, and it has pictures. The site has been using more videos as well. It's more interesting for the readers to see more than one medium. They now allow readers to create a profile, so that you can see who's who, when looking at comments. Before the last few weeks, commenters could use any name they like. This will crack down on useless banter and other negative comments, because people won't be able to be anonymous. Since the launch of the new features, which has only been around a week or so, there seems to be an increase in comments, but not a large increase. I do expect to see a larger increase in comments in the coming months.

Currently there doesn't seem to be any community of commenters. When reading over the comments, you do not see the same names over and over. This could be due to the fact that people were able to post under any name they please, but if there was in fact a community of commenters, people would want to post under the same name, and be recognized as a regular commenter. There aren't overlapping commenters, even on articles with similar topics that were written around the same time. There are regularly articles about local politics, often about the same officials and the same elections. The comments seem to be from different people on different articles. There are a lot of music articles on the site. Austin, Texas is one of the music capitols of the US, and I covered this publication during South By South West, which is the biggest American music event of the year. The music articles are in the music portion of their entertainment section, which is called Austin360.com. They did receive comments on these articles, but they also seemed to be different commenters. Even on the articles that were on similar subjects written right after each other, the commenters were different people. I expect this to change with the new promotion of reader involvement. Certainly the readers who are blogging will get involved in commenting regularly, and a community will form.

The Austin American Statesman has just taken the steps towards building a community of readers who are involved with the publication. Through their new features, the reader blogs, the most commented and most recommended lists, and the easily accessed promotion of commenting, the reader involvement will grow. This semester I tracked a publication that allowed comments, but did not particularly support them. It would be interesting to do an additional investigation of their public reader feedback, over the next three months. A comparison between the two would most definitely show the difference between a publication that allows feedback and a publication that supports feedback. I expect the reader involvement to grow exponentially, and I think it will be a positive step for both the Statesman and their readers.

Response to Farmers Market for Sale article

There was an article in The Austin Statesman today entitled "Farmers market site for sale again". The article is about a piece of land that's back on the market, because the previous buyer failed in renovating it. There are five comments and it's mostly just people who are disapointed that nothing has come of it yet. Nothing too interesting for an outsider, but I do like the fact that someone refers to Paz Dohdy, the failed entreprenuer, as DOHdy. I can only hope and assume that's a Simpsons reference.

My failure to get comments

So, in repsonse to our assignment, where I wrote a blog with the attempt to get as many comments as possible, I failed miserably. I got zero comments. Not a single comment. I didn't want to write something I didn't actually agree with, in case people actually saw it, and because I figured I would promote it to my friends. I decided to write a piece about the local music scene, asking peoples opinions. I assumed that people I know in the local music scene would be interested, instead of putting my faith in my classmates taking an interest in whatever I wrote about. I put it up, posted a bulletin on my myspace, and I expected my 400something myspace friends to comment. I tend to get response to pretty much every bulletin I post on myspace, so when no one commented, or even messaged me, I was marginally surprised. I mentioned to my best friend to check it out, and to another friend, who I'm sure had something to say. They didn't even comment. I think my friends think that blogs are lame. From Scott's suggestion I posted bulletin on the Local Buzz bulletin board on Masslive.com. I guess I was supposed to post on Soundsomething, but I misunderstood. I was going to post a bulletin on my old bands myspace, which still has something like 16,000 friends, but I was a little embarassed for all of my former fans to see that this blog was being ignored. That's also why I didn't post again on myspace, coupled with the fact that I try to keep my bulletins to a minimum, so I'm not annoying. Also, I feel like posting on my old band's myspace, should be used only for something that is applicable to the fans. So, I failed to get any comments. I commented on some of my classmates blogs, thinking they may check mine out, but they probably didn't. Back to the grind.

Washington Post's most commented articles

The most commented upon articles in the Washington Post, today, are pretty much all about the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. If you're not from the US, don't care about the US, or don't have the internet (all three point to you not reading my blog) the two competing candidates are Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. Since the Republican nominee has been decided, people are focussed on who will be the Democrat. Not only do people want to read about the latest in this race, but people have a lot to say about it. Everyone seems to want to announce their opinions, and debate about which candidate they support.

What's been important to you about Western Mass Music?

Western Massachusetts has had, and still has, a local music scene that is pretty astounding, in comparison to other areas in the US with similar populations. Without a big city, there have been a slew of major label artists (Dinosaur Jr, Polaris, Sebadoh, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, (hate to say it but) Staind, (were the Unband on a major), Taj Mahal was from Western Mass right?, I'm sure I'm leaving out a bunch). A hell of a lot has happened here, and touched a lot of lives. I'd love to hear some stories of what other people feel is important about Western Mass music. People who live here, have lived here, played here on tour, or even just visited. I'll kick it off with my memories of a venue in Western Mass that changed my life for the better, Flywheel Arts Space in Easthampton, MA (though I'm sure I could write something similar about my feelings for The Old Store/The Shed in Palmer, MA. I'll see if that comes out as I read others' responses.)

The first time I went to Flywheel Arts Space was the first show I ever played. It was maybe October or November of 1999, I was 14 years old, and Flywheel had opened earlier that year. My punk band played 3 songs, and we were payed in candy. It was awesome. I had never even met the promoters before the gig. Someone suggested us to them, and we were on. This was my foot in the door. This was a place that would let me do whatever I wanted, for whomever was interested. No censorship. By the time I was playing there with American Business Machines, who played Flywheel between 25-30 times between 2004 and Flywheel's closing in 2007, I was taking this to a new level. Flywheel was our home court and we caused as much havoc as we liked. All of those nights are truly a blur of brawling bloody through the drum set wearing maybe a pair of boxers, endless A tonal jams with the audience invited to join, too many people pushed into a room with no ventilation (making it impossible to hold drum sticks from the sweat), and most of all, just having the freedom to do anything. Our last show there, was one of Flywheel's last shows. We had bought some buckets of fried chicken to eat while we were playing, and it quickly turned into fried chicken war. It was a fantastic night and couldn't have happened anywhere else. The greatest part about Flywheel is that I'm sure I'm not the only one with this type of story. It let so many performers get their start. At the same time so many amazing bands played there, from all over the world. It gave me the chance to see amazing famous artists, in what felt like my living room. Though Flywheel had to shut it's doors last year, it will reopen in the old town hall building in Easthampton. The space is great, and we've finally received enough money to begin demolition. I've felt the lack of Flywheel in Western Mass, and I know many others have as well. It won't happen over night, but Flywheel will reopen, and the next generation will be able to let it change their lives as well.

Required Reading in Texas Schools

There was an article in the Austin Statesman on March 25 entitled "What do you think of the required reading in your child’s school? Is the material age appropriate?". The Statesman again took the route of actually asking for comments at the end of the article. They got a lot of crazy ones. There are people saying that there shouldn't be school and a lot of god stuff. There's one commenter named Bob who throws out quotes like "The children of today are practically all retarded compared to when I was just starting elementary school." and " those damn kids do not get out of the road, let Darwinism weed them out! In fact, I think if you can hit them and make their mothers cry, you get an extra ten points. Twenty if the mother is giving birth to another one of her twenty children when it happens.". Not someone I'd ever like to meet. There is actually a comment here by a 13 year old student. My favorite quote would have to be whoever pulled out the Simpsons in the middle of this. The commenter, Ralph Wiggum, the comment "Me fail English? That’s unpossible!".

Walmart sues brain-damaged woman with dead son

This isn't in my publication, but I saw this and figured other people might want to read this as well. Another example of how shiesty Wal-Mart is. "Walmart sues brain-damaged woman with dead son".

John McCain's daughter is into The Dead Milkmen

There was an article in the Austin Statesman on March 20 entitled "John McCain’s daughter loves indie rock". If the title of the article isn't good enough, the entirety of the article is "Attention Transmission promoter Graham Williams: She is a huge Dead Milkmen fan.". I find this awesome, because the Dead Milkmen were a great band. The lone commenter points out that Sid McCain has worked for a few major record labels.

Article ranting about people talking during shows

There was an article in the Austin Statesman on March 22nd entitled "Shhhhh! Music being played" The journalist rants about how people are too loud during gigs in Austin. 9 commenters agree with him. Only one disagrees. I've only played a few shows in Austin, and they were all at Trophys, which is a pretty rowdy bar. They weren't the kind of shows where anyone would want to keep it down. I understand that it's annoying if people are talking too loudly through a soft performance (one of the commenters sites people talking through a Johnny Cash solo set that he video taped), but most groups are loud enough to rise above the conversation. Certainly all high energy bands are looking to spur vocalization from the crowd. I'd just be surprised to hear that it's actually gotten that bad. Since when can you not just turn to someone being too loud and tell them to keep it down.

Fake Austin City Limits Fest Poster

There was an article in the Austin Statesmen yesterday entitled "Exclusive!!! ACL Fest poster!!! (It’s a fake)". Someone made a fake poster with a fake lineup for the Austin City Limits Fest, which won't be announcing it's line up until April 15th. Whomever made it, emailed it to a lot of interested parties, and many people were tricked. Three people commented on this. One of the comments struck me as random. He said "the fact that paul westerberg is listed was an immediate indication that it was a fake.". I can't figure out why he thinks that? Paul Westerberg was the singer of The Replacements, a great band, and still tours playing his solo material and material he wrote for The Replacements. It wouldn't surprise me to see him at this type of event. Maybe the commenter was reffering to the fact that he's not quite as famous as most of the names on the poster, but I don't know. He has to be more famous than Explosions In The Sky or Band Of Horses, who are listed in the same section as him, let alone the half dozen bands on there that I haven't heard of.

Moody Blues

A review appeared in the Austin Statesman yesterday entitled "Review: Moody Blues at Austin Music Hall". The reviewer bashed the Austin Music Hall, for having horrible sound, even though it has just been renovated. Most of the five commenters agreed with the reviewer, accusing the owners of renovating the hall so it could fit more people, but not paying any attention to the sound.

Austin Statesman has an article that actually asks people to comment

An article appeared in the Austin Statesman today entitled "Too young for cell phones at school?". The last line of the article is "Tell us, what do you think of this policy?". The publication is looking for comments. They've only gotten four comments of yet, but it just came out today. The comments are on both sides of the issue, and there's already someone claiming that anyone who disagrees with him is an idiot.

BATPAC endorses Meeker, Morrison article

There was an article on March 18th in the Austin Statesmen entitled "BATPAC endorses Meeker, Morrison". The article is about a city council election, and me, not really knowing the candidates, didn't find it too enticing. 28 people commented though. Most of the comments are suggesting that there's some sort of foul play involved. I can't be sure of what's true, but I found one comment particularly amusing stating "Has Meeker already received more than $300.00 from the BATPAC? Fans of open government want to know". Are people mad about $300? That can't really be the case. As if $300 would give an unfare advantage in an election.

"Noriega, citing U.S. deaths in Iraq, stills Web site" article

There was an article in the Austin Statesmen yesterday entitled "Noriega, citing U.S. deaths in Iraq, stills Web site". Rick Noriega (I appologize for not mentioning this in my last post) is Texas' Democratic senate nominee. The article is about how he's using his website to bring awareness to the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq and his opposition to the war. It spurred two comments, both critisizing Noriega. The main comment was from a veteran who has returned from Iraq. He's accusing Noriega of exploiting the deaths for his own political gain. Maybe the commenter is right, but my first reaction is actually the opposite. I feel Noriega is probably using his public notice as a candidate to speak about an issue that's important to him. First, Noriega served in Afganistan. Second, I'm not certain, but I don't think opposing the Iraq war is something that will get you a lot of votes in Texas. A lot of Noriega's campaign focuses on how he's a good old boy from Texas, even though he's a Democrat. I'm not sold that he's exploiting the soldier's deaths, when he's calling out to end the war and spare those who have not yet died.

Noriega Goofs Words article

There was an article in the Austin Statesman yesterday entitled "Noriega goofs words to “Deep in the Heart…”". It spawned five comments. Four of the five were extremely aggressive towards the journalist. I do agree the article seems pretty useless at best, and at worst, in poor taste. It's some of the most hostile commenting I've seen yet.

Testing to see if HTML works google

Testing to see if HTML works google

Respones to the book Letters to the Editor

This is in response to the book Letters to the Editor, Two Hundred Years in the Life of an American Town, edited by Gerard Stropnicky, Tom Byrn, James Goode, and Jerry Matheny. My first note is that last sentence was a mouthful.

The first letter that jumped out at me was on pages 21-22, and was entitled The Normal School. The writer is complaining about the expansion of Bloomsburg. He warns about not being able to feed everyone. It jumped out at me, because it doesn't seem to be great use to warn the people who already live in Bloomsburg. Maybe the residents are inviting other residents to move there, but the people who are expanding Bloomsburg are people who haven't yet arrived. There is no way they could possibly read that letter. Also, it's always fun to see older writing, where they add pluralization to things that we don't anymore.

The second letter that jumped out at me was on page 22, and was entitled The Traffic Light. The writer is bothered by the inconsistency of a specific traffic light. He describes how he timed the light, with his watch, and found it inconsistent. It's funny to me to imagine someone really sitting out there with a watch timing a traffic light. It's not like today, where you might just be glancing at the clock on the dashboard of your car.

The third letter was on page 27, and was entitled The RIghts of Man. The writer pretty much just says, what's the hubbub about equality. I just can't imagine anyone saying that. I can't help but find this hilarious.

The fourth letter was on page 27, and was entitled The Right of Fish. This opens with the line "Fish are a species of animals which ought to be exempt from our tyrrany." Whether or not you agree that we're being too harsh on fish, that is a fantastic sentence. Tyrrany is such a strong word to use. It also seems so strange to me, to concentrate on fish. As if we should hunt other animals, but fish are superior and should be exempt. The letter goes on to make a decent argument on this exact point. I'm unconvinced by it, and truthfully find it humerous.

The fifth letter was on page 28, and was entitled Ten Dollar Reward. This letter offors a $10 reward, for the return of a runaway slave. It's surreal to me to imagine slavery taken so lightly, but that's the way it was. Its a strange description of the man. They decribe his personality, as well as his clothing and appearance. Seeing an actual letter like this, is just surreal to me.

Letter to the Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

Dear Karin Wahl-Jorgensen,

I read your book "Journalists and the Public" and one section confused me. You talk about pen names quite a bit, and you actually give percentages in reference to how many letter writers used assumed names. One example was on page 43, lines 31-32, when you wrote "Pederson found that at least 30% of female letter writers use assumed names". How could we know the percentage that used pen names? Were the writers adding a note that the letter should be published under a different name? I assume most writers who use a pen name, just use the pen name, period. Why would they give their actual name at all? How would the newspapers, in the those times, know whether or not the names on the letters were the writer's real names? I just can't imagine that Pederson's research on this point could even be remotely accurate.

Sincerely

Justin Cohen

SXSW

There was an article that appeared in the Austin Statesman on February 25th, talking about the new method for buying wrist bands to attend South By South West (SXSW). http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2008/02/25/sxsw_shocker_wristbands_didnt.html#comments. SXSW is an annual music festival held in Austin, Texas. This article spurred 32 comments, which is the highest I've seen yet, from any article in this publication. The posts were both pro and con. People are really fired up about they're feelings towards this festival. The comments continued for four days after the article was written.

Not Everyone Cares Article

There was an article in the Austin Statesman today entitled "Not Everyone Cares" http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2008/03/03/not_everyone_cares.html#comments. It's just a very short non-news story about the fact that there are some people who don't care about the election. What I found interesting is that it spurred a comment that was at least 5 times the length of the article. The comment is packed with information about Obama's beliefs. I don't know how credible everything is, and there are a handful of typos thrown in. It's just surprising to me that the commenter picked this non-news blip, to post his research that is only marginally related to the topic of the initial article.

Barak Obama Commercial

There was an article in the Austin Statesmen yesterday about a new campaign commercial of Barak Obama's. You can check it out here http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2008/02/29/obama_strikes_back_at_3_am_ad.html#comments. This article is literally 2 sentences and a link to the commercial, but it spurred 13 comments. Though on closer examination, 3 of the 13 were duplicate comments. It could have been that people posted the same thing twice on purpose or by accident. All and all though, these comments are by far the most thought out that I have seen in this paper. They're almost all compelling and well thought out points. Most of them are even in reference to the commercial.

Article about Beagles

There was an article in the Austin Statesman on February 18, about whether or not a Beagle is a good dog to have as a pet. You can take a look at http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/consumer/entries/2008/02/18/is_a_beagle_right_for_your_fam_1.html. I first thought, is this really news. I then noticed that the article is pretty much just a repressing of an article that appeared in Newsday. This article pretty much just consists of quoting most of that article. With my opinion aside, it's funny that this spurred 5 people to comment. Less than half of the articles which allow comments, get commented on. This article got comments when other, more hard hitting, topics did not. The comments are all just about how much people like their beagles.

Meeker taking on City Hall

There was an article, on February 6th, in the Austin Statesmen, concerning a candidate in a local election, Jason Meeker. You can check it out at http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/cityhall/entries/2008/02/06/meeker_taking_on_city_hall.html. What jumped out at me in the comments, was the second comment. It was pretty hostile. Here's the second comment. It's a little longer, but you can skim it to see the gist of the hostility.

"What this boy Jason has not figured out is that there are a whole lot more folks in Austin who are Walmart shoppers who vote than anti-Walmart shoppers who vote. H.E.B. can’t buy you the election Jason and the political operatives you are surrounding yourself with are all outsiders like you because they have never figured out how to negotiate or compromise. They dig the fight for the fight’s sake and really don’t seem to be affected by the outcome as long as there is still one person left who will slap them on the back and say, “give the big money boys hell”! Jason, you are just the errand boy for these folks and they will drop you like a bad transmission at AAMCO when this is over in May. You are going to be the poster boy for wasting taxpayer money! Enjoy the next 90 days til election day because it will be the most miserable time of your life and the misery won’t come from your competitors, it will come from angry taxpayers looking for someone to take the fall."

I also was surprised to see the third commenter's handle is just "booger". I don't get how you can talk politics while reffering to yourself as booger. The language people use can be a little hilarious. I'll leave you with a nice line from one of the comments

"Mc”Meeker ain’t got no game based upon his quotes in this fine article"

Comments on Article about Obama rally in Austin

In the Austin Statesmen, there was a small article on February 23rd, about the Obama rally in Austin, http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2008/02/23/cleaning_up_after_the_rally.html. The article doesn't go into policy or anything that Obama spoke about. It mostly just stated that there was a rally, Obama spoke, and it focussed on how fast they were able to clean up after the rally. This warrented 25 commonts as of 3PM on February 24th. Practically right off the bat, the second comment addressed one reader's negative views about Obama stating

"In the debate,Hillary said that she will introduce COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM within the first hundred days of her presidency. Unlike Obama, Hillary is for universal health care. Hillary supports the Latinos!"

The comments go on to be mostly a debate about each readers particular views about the candidates on a variety of issues. Obviously some of the readers are more informed than others, but that's not what surprises me. What surprises me is that almost no one addressed the article. They chose an article that wasn't really about anything controvertial, and decided that there was the place to start a largish debate. There was even a comment thrown in stating

"Nader 2008 www.votenader.org"

First off, I'm surprised that Nader would run. I'm a big fan of Ralph Nader as well, but what does he have to do with the article? If you go and read the article, it really doesn't have the substance to substantiate this level of debate.

Letter to the editor about Barak Obama

Dear Editor,

It brightens my opinion of this country to see that Senator Obama has so much support. The fact that he seems to actually stand for something positive, and seeing so many young people believe in something is great, but I don't have 100% faith that either of those will stay true after electing a President Obama. I do believe that our world image will increase. Firstly it's because Obama is a charismatic, nice, guy. The world liked Bill Clinton, even when he was bombing other countries. The second reason is because he's not an old white man. I know our other democratic option is not an old white man either, but I don't think the rest of the world would view electing Hilary as much of a step towards equality. Electing Hilary would be solidifying the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton dynasty. That's 25 years of being run by two families. Isn't being run by two parties bad enough? Electing Barak Obama would be a much larger step towards equality. He's not white, he hasn't lived in the US his whole life, and his name sounds like he's muslim, even though he isn't. It would be much harder to convince an Iraqi child to give his life to destroy Barak Obama than George Bush. I feel that rest of the world would see a President Obama, as America taking a step for the better, and another President Clinton as more of the same.

Letter to the editor concerning instating a driving test for the elderly

Dear Editor,

I am whole heartedly in support of Governor Patrick's proposition to retest elderly drivers. I understand that elderly people are protective of their licenses, since they assure independence. I do feel that the safety risk justifies feelings being hurt. Whether they decide to test everyone when they reach a certain age, or instate tests throughout your life, there's no need to hesitate. The elderly drivers who are able bodied behind the wheel, will not need to worry about the test. The only ones who really need to worry are those who won't pass the test, and those are the drivers who shouldn't be on the road. Driving in a car is one of the most dangerous things we do on a daily basis, and anything that's going to make it safer is worth it.

Santa Clause Letter

This is in response to the letter asking about Santa Claus to the New York Sun on September 21, 1897. I think the author did a great job with this response. He covered his bases on both sides. I like how he wrote it to sound nice to a child, and answer the question, but at the same time he wrote it much more for the adult to read. I don't think anyone would be bothered by this response. If he had come out and said no, there would be a lot of negative response. If he came out and said yes without the type of explanation that he gave, there would have probably been some negative response. I also found it strange that the editor actually responded to the letter. Other than Dear Abby, I don't think I've seen the editor respond to a letter. Ussually they just print the letter. I'd be curious to see if any other papers have done something like this more recently. If they did, I can't imagine the response could be much different in content. If it was they'd be opening themselves up for criticism.

New York Times Suggestions For Letter Writers

This is in response to the article in the New York Times by Thomas Feyer, addressing tips to help those writing letters to the editor. The first thing that crossed my mind is whether or not this was only printed once. Though most letter writers probably do at least glance at the page everyday, but maybe not. It might be affective enough to print it once, but surely they will have to print this kind of article at least once a year, if they have a need to print it once. The second thing that jumped out at me was that the author suggests keeping things concise, which is a good suggestion, but this article is not very concise. It could be a quarter of the length. He does do a great job at making it very clear and easy to read, but it's quite long. They probably could've printed an extra letter or two, that issue, if this article was compacted the way it could have been. I also wonder whether or not this really made a difference in what they recieved.

Lincoln Letter

This is in repsonse to the letter to the editor that Abraham Lincoln sent to Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, on August 22, 1862. It's interesting to see that the president would actually write a letter to a newspaper. Back then, newspapers were the biggest media outlet. There was no radio, television, internet, ect. Considering the options, sending letters to newspapers was the largest possible forum. I know that now the president could never send a letter to the editor, but I am surprised at how many larger politicians seem to. This was mentioned numerous times in our readings. I imagine that newspapers today do you get letters signed George Bush, claiming that they are the president, by either people making a joke or perhaps someone who's mentally challenged. I think if a newspaper were to get a letter from the president, it would have to have an official seal that looked convincing, in order to even consider the possibility of printing it.