COMMENTS: Let them be heard

Seldom does the Coeur d'Alene Press run away from an issue. You have no problem printing letters that assail your stories, your editorials and some of your biases. Despite this The Press goes on and does a great job at what you do.

Notwithstanding, I find it out of character for The Press to run away from a project they started regarding online comments to certain letters or featured stories.

Admittedly, these online comments were, in many cases, just ignorant people making idiotic statements that added very little to the dialogue. Yet, by backing away from the entire project you in effect eliminated many of the cogent and valuable inputs from those who took the time to make a comment that would afford some sense of intelligence to those matters that commenters found worthy of discussion.

Since you no longer have the temerity to re-establish this forum would you at least drop it from the online menu. Your weak-kneed effort to make it seem like it is still a working forum is abysmal. A headline above the commented stories reads: "Recently commented stories," yet one story's most recent comment was April 2010. The only way that can be considered "recent" is in terms of the age of the Earth.

If it is an economic decision because of the necessity of having someone to moderate the idiotic, inane and obscene comments it is understood. But grow up, revive it in its original form or dump it.

TIM METCALF

Dalton Gardens