Some Suggestions on LWN Letters and Subscribers

I wanted to weigh in on the "Letters to the Editor" page and maybe beat
a dead horse or two. :^)

As some one who has written in and been published on this page before, I
would be mildly upset to see it removed.  That page need not always be
present, but when it is, I find it almost always has incredible content.
 I think it's unrealistic to assume that comments can take the place of
a well formed e-mail created for publication.  People tend to put more
thought and time into such things.  Also, you will find that some people
may not be subscribers or regular readers and write in.  For example,
suppose LWN writes an article about certain actions in the community and
ruffles some feathers (whether that ruffling is warranted is
immaterial).  The letters page gives those people a very prominent way
to respond to both yourself, and the readership as a whole.

Really, is there a need to remove it if every weekly edition does not
contain a Letters page?

As for subscribership, I had hoped that the send-a-link thing might help
out, and a little feedback on this front would be helpful.  I've
forwarded a few links to small private mailing lists and my circle of
geek friends for particularly interesting articles, but I don't think
it's been successful in convincing even one person to subscribe.
Something else obviously needs to be done to encourage subscribers.
Some time ago when this discussion came up I suggested a general LWN
mailing list for project developer subscribers.  I still think that's
worth looking into as a way to encourage $5 a month subscribers to up
the ante to the full $10, and would be relatively easy enough to deploy
in a test case.  In the interest of full discloser to your readers, I am
a $10 a month subscriber and have been for years.

I was originally going to post this as a comment, but decided to make it
a Letter to the Editor instead. :^)

-- 
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5