Letters to the editor on the web

Still on the New York Times, their public editor continues to provide good copy as he muses about the paper's relationship with its readers. This week he's thinking out loud about letters to the editor and how the exchanges around the letters' page - the ones that don't get published, as well as the back and forth between reporters and readers - could find a home on the web.

"The better use of the Web site could also give readers the chance to see letters from The Times. One of the great frustrations of my job is seeing the thoughtful letters that go out from Times reporters to readers who have taken issue with something they've written. Why frustration? Because one reader gets the benefit of the thoughtfulness (and, sometimes, the writer's candid acknowledgment that he or she might have done something better), and a couple of million others who might appreciate it do not."