Thank you to all of the Times readers who responded during the past two weeks to our request for feedback about the length of letters to the editor. As we mentioned, we want to reflect community sentiment and let people know what our readers are thinking, but we also don’t want long letters to crowd out other features or affect our readers’ overall enjoyment of the paper.

Some of the feedback was surprising. While we expected our readers to have a lot to say, we were pleasantly surprised at the depth and breadth of some of the comments. Some chose to add their thoughts to our social media posts, while others emailed directly, and a few sent texts or phoned in their opinions. Many readers used the opportunity to offer story ideas or suggestions about other parts of the paper, and we’re grateful for all of your feedback.

The majority of the responses favored a word limit of some kind. Here’s a sampling:

“I believe that a word limit encourages writers to think strategically about how they want to present their point without including too much superfluous information or repeating themselves…”

“As a reader, I completely lose interest when the letters are that long – make your point and land the plane…”

“It seems to me that your readers most likely enjoy reading what their neighbors thoughts are on Hull issues, but chances are that brevity scores more interest…”

“I confess to stopping reading when a letter continues to nearly a whole page, and the writer is a frequent contributor… No limitation at all does not encourage thoughtful, economical commentary…”

“I do feel that letters that exceed about half a column in length are excessive and limit the space for other topics. I also feel posting letters from the same writers repeatedly is unbalanced…”

“Open with main topic. Provide facts, statistics, history, and maybe personal opinion. Close repeating main topic. KISS = Keep It Short, Sweetie…”

A surprising number of correspondents favored a looser interpretation of our current guidelines, which encourage writers to express themselves in a couple hundred words. Those readers’ thoughts echoed these sentiments:

“Please continue to allow long letters to the editor. Every letter does not have to be a cheerleader for the town. I hope that you continue to allow free speech in every form, long or short…”
“Please, please, please allow for the length needed in the editorial section of the paper for the residents…”

“The length doesn’t trouble me as long as the letter stays on topic and is well written…”

“The letters to the editor is one of my favorite sections next to the police log. I very much appreciate hearing others’ thoughts on town issues and while some letters may be long, it is sometimes necessary to convey a point…”

“If they take the time to write a letter ... print it. I welcome others’ opinions and sometimes the letters to the editor are the only way we learn about an issue in town…”

“It truly depends on the subject …Some long ones are wholly necessary to get it all in. Others are not and get boring, but I like knowing other points of view…”

We’re encouraged by all of this feedback, which demonstrates that our readers are engaged and regard the Times – in print and online – as a place to learn about important issues. We always enjoy hearing from people who love Hull as much as we do.

In light of all of your feedback, we are revising the word limit of letters to the editor. Correspondents are asked to be economical in expressing themselves and respect the space limitations of the newspaper and the attention spans of readers. Letters of 300 words should provide ample opportunity for getting your point across; for more complex topics, we will, in special cases, extend this to 500 words. We trust that our correspondents will understand our thinking and respect our desire to include as many voices on as many topics as possible.

-- Christopher Haraden, Editor

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