The Ellenville Journal's online forum continues to vex both readers and writers alike, but like a large bag of potato chips left open on the table, the forum's allure seems so powerful that even the most resolute in their disapproval cannot resist taking just one more chip. Love it or hate it, resistance to the wild, unscripted world of the blog appears to be futile.

This week the newspaper is taken to task by some of our most valued contributors. Steve Krulick, a veritable lightning rod of strong opinion, offers a compelling and well-argued case for moderation on the facing page. Krulick always shines a bright light within those diminutive popup windows; his comments attract swarms of gratuitous nonsense like gnats on a late May afternoon. The subsequent comments can be annoying, absurd, inflammatory, and even repulsive, but somehow a discussion forms, ideas are exchanged, and, after a collective shrug, the thread is thankfully put to bed a week later when the next edition is posted. His claims of our complicity in the tone and content of the forum seem a little stretched to us, but so be it. He is often a target, as anyone who speaks up will be, and his frustration is understandable. There is no right or wrong here, as the Internet is still defining its ethics. Freedom, responsibility, accountability, manners — when asking what is and how to foster appropriate speech, these and many other considerations are still duking it out.

John Burns offers another criticism of the forum in his column. Often the holder and espouser of controversial and unpopular opinions, he rightly points out the cowardice of those who post anonymously. John Burns says what he thinks and puts his name to it, which is admirable and something the newspaper wholeheartedly supports. But short of undertaking extensive background checks on everyone who wants to participate, there is no feasible way to reliably identify an Internet visitor. An email address is not an identity. A screen name is not an identity. The appearance of anonymity is still a fundamental quality of Internet communication, and it is still the case, decades into the wired age, that on the Internet, no one knows you're a dog.

The Ellenville Journal has no monolithic opinions about anything other than the value of a free and independent press, and the importance of paying the phone bill. We welcome the opportunity to publish a diversity of thought, even thoughts that question the newspaper's own integrity, as we welcome the opportunity to provide a means for open discussion. Both the newspaper and the forum are reflections of the community — different media, different standards, even different people — but each serve the fundamental human need to speak to one another. At the end of the day it's all about us, and if we can't speak freely, there isn't much left to say.

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