Historically, we've considered our letters to the editor section somewhat of a self-regulating forum.
If someone writes something that's off base, another astute reader can write in to set the record straight.
Last year, we changed that after readers got tired of the constant back-and-forth letters between writers. Some of them bordered on personal attacks. So we banned writers from referring to other letters or letter writers.
But part of the goal of publishing letters is to allow a dialogue - to agree or disagree with others' ideas. So we're now allowing letters that reference other letters, as long as they don't mention other letter writers and as long as any disagreement is respectful.
In addition to allowing letters to "set the record straight," we also are making a more conscious attempt at making sure letters are based in fact.
Everyone has a right to their opinions, no matter how disagreeable they are to others. But, when writing a letter to the editor, we ask that you cite sources if stating something not commonly known or agreed upon.
You can argue the Biden administration should tear down the border wall and let anyone and everyone enter our country and gain instant citizenship. Or, you could argue the border wall should be doubled in size and we should end all immigration forever. Those are opinions. Others might consider them extreme, but they're opinions.
But, if you state that immigration should be shut down because 95 percent of the people who illegally enter our borders go on to kill Americans, that's being stated as a fact - one that's not correct. It's the same if you state that immigration should be as simple as crossing our border because every immigrant in the past decade has had an IQ of 200 and has never sinned, much less committed a crime.
So, when you use facts to support your opinions, we ask that you use accurate ones. If it is a fact that might not be commonly known or if you're quoting a public figure, please attribute it to a legitimate source: "Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
If you want to argue President Joe Biden is prone to gaffs, you can argue that. But if you say he has a certain medical condition because of those gaffs, you're stating a fact that hasn't been confirmed by the president or his doctor.
What is a reliable source? That can be subjective and not always easy to determine. Generally, news outlets and government agencies are fair game.
Some news outlets, however, make no attempt at accuracy and impartiality. Weekly World News, for example, bills itself as "The world's only reliable news." Its latest story, "Alien spy calls cops on nosy human neighbor" may be an entertaining read, but we don't consider it a reliable source.
Likewise, an unreliable source would be a YouTube video stating that a United Nations force will soon arrive in black helicopters to bring the U.S. under UN control.
When we see something that raises a concern, we will ask the writer to substantiate the claim. We simply don't have time to fact-check every claim in every letter, and we won't catch everything. Meanwhile, if you disagree with an opinion, or see a claim in a letter that you believe to be factually incorrect, we ask that you submit your own letter and respectfully disagree or set the record straight.
We only ask that you do so respectfully, keeping the focus on the issue, not the other letter writer.
Finally, our letters to the editor, like our opinion page, are a forum for people to express their views - experts and non-experts alike. We want to stress that we don't care what your opinions are. We don't care if your worldview is liberal, conservative, libertarian or none of the above. We don't want a single set of views, and we certainly don't want to limit the page to views in line with our own.
But we also don't want the forum to devolve into false information, conspiracy theories, racism or hatred.
So, keep writing us letters. We just ask that you work with us to keep the page a place for truth-based opinions and a respectful exchange of ideas.
News Tribune