Readers of our e-mail list sometimes ask why we don't add writer's names when we post e-mail correspondence that we have received. Below are some of our reasons.

• Our e-mail list contains over 1000 addresses and is growing everyday. We actually know the identity of the owner of the majority of the addresses and know that names attached to a particular e-mail address are correct. Most writers also include their name at the end of messages. But we have a few impostors on the list who have assumed in some cases fictitious identities and in others they steal the real name of a Charlestown resident. There are also a few more who we aren't certain about. Posting a comment with a name on it when the writer was actually someone else could damage the reputation of the named "writer".
• Even though the overwhelming majority put their names on their e-mails, that doesn't imply that they are giving us permission to print their names. We receive hundreds of messages, we cannot check with each writer whose e-mail will be posted if they will give permission to print their name, as is done with letters to the editors in newspapers.
• Content on the internet tends to persist for many years and can be picked up and posted in other places, often out of context. If a named writer wants to change a posting or withdraw their comments it will always be too late.
• There are some people who want to use the list to get their name in front of readers. Adding names to posts would allow them to promote themselves or their business.
• Names and e-mails published can be utilized appropriately and non-appropriately by others.
• There are a few in Charlestown who like to discourage public involvement. When Jim Mageau filed his frivolous eco-terrorism complaint in 2006, some who he identified as terrorists had done nothing more than write a letter to the editor in opposition to him appointing himself as both Town Administrator and Town Council President. The Attorney General threw Mageau's complaint out as laughable, but it did have its intended consequence of discouraging public participation as some named in his criminal complaint have never spoken or written publicly again. Signed e-mail correspondence could open the writer to verbal abuse; thus, discouraging public involvement.

Only one writer has ever asked us not to print their name, but we think the idea of the writer should be the important thing rather than the name of the speaker. We want a lively debate on our e-mail list. Should it matter how old the writer is or their gender or their address? If writers really want their name on a comment they should write a letter to the editor. In fact we encourage everyone to read the newspapers and to write letters to the editor.

Our posted comments are much more carefully screened than the comments sent to the on-line talk back sections of the local newspapers. We don't post the comments of people we know to be impostors, or of people claiming to know of some shenanigans in Town Hall but who offer no proof or contact information.

Letters to the Editor that are submitted to us as well as a newspaper will retain the writer's name as it has already been published and made public.