Author: Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

An Unpublished Letter to the Pilot

This is the reason for starting this forum, well, that and teaching the Pilot a lesson in economics.


Inside every journalist beats the heart of a despot with an undying need to fix things that aren’t broken. 

Newspapers are written at the 9th grade reading level. If Pilot readers desired a deeper examination of the issues, they could find it in the comments section where knowledgeable and passionate advocates contested in the marketplace of ideas. To be sure, the comments section had its share of trolls and fools, but that is the price of free speech. 

But with the announced changes coming, that deeper discussion will no longer be possible. The 80% reduction in comment length to 300 characters will place no burden on the trolls. but complex subjects cannot be addressed in tweet length comments. No one was forced to read, or write, longer comments. 

Worse, with supporting links limited to news articles, that same high school depth limit is imposed on external sources. 

The Internet connects us to the sum of human knowledge, but looking at it through the lens of only what gets published in the popular press is like peaking through the keyhole into the Louvre and thinking you have seen the sum of man’s art. 

While enforcing a greater level of civility and adherence to the topic at hand might have been an improvement to the comments, the sweeping changes in allowed content will destroy everything good and adult in the the online edition.

Reconsider, and let your readers decide what they want to read. 

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