Second, they lack courage and often conviction. Many of these people don’t *truly* mean what they post — in real ife, they would not say such things, due to being unsure of themselves… but in an online world, they can test the waters with polarizing comments which they would otherwise be unwilling to share. In an online world with such loose assocations they also garner cronies of the “luckybuzzard24 is so right–you are all idiots!” persuasion.

Real life social ineptitude coupled with longing for acceptance causes people in this scenario to pursue the fringes… it is easier to defend your position via attacks on others when you divide every situation into simple “us Vs. them” boundaries.

Many online comment boards are simply a breeding ground forthe mob-mentality and are devoid of civility.

Gratefully, your blog doesn’t seem to fit that description.

If your town has a good free weekly paper, it can take the place of the local paper as far as summarizing the week’s local news. Not all towns have a solid weekly paper, though.

I agree with the comment about online comments — who are these hateful people? It is very discouraging.

The papers do pile up. I usually take out the old when the new one comes in. If you are worried about this, and since you are obviously using other new sources, I think the weekend edition option is a good one. But be careful, sometimes they’ll want to send you more anyway. Be firm. : )

Can’t imagine not getting our paper because there are often wonderful free events around town that I’d otherwise not know about. And garage sales where I’ve saved TONS of money because I love books, but no book lover has the fundage for everything they’d like to read. I also like knowing the human interest stories, what plays are being put on at the high schools, professional music and drama at the Arts Center, who’s died, what new businesses and doctors have come to town etc.

To keep down on the clutter, Robin’s idea of pulling out all the ads and stuff you would never read is a good one (especially for the big fat Sunday paper). Have a spot for it where your kids can’t get to it– a high shelf near the table maybe? You will have to think up a time to read it because otherwise it’s a waste of money. I like to read it the very first thing, while I eat breakfast. We both read it at the same time, or sometimes one will read it first, then the other, but the rule is that the second person to read it puts it in the blue recycle bin. The first person folds down a corner if there is something on the page they want to rip out (restaurant coupon, for example). That means they won’t throw it out after they are done, but the other person must get back and get it and throw the paper away. Papers need to be tossed at our house as soon as you read them. They are never held over to the next day or anything like that.

I agree with Lynn that there are lots of wacky comments online that bother me too. Who are those people? Anyway, it makes yet another case to have the paper delivered.

Kids who read should have free access to the paper, but not if homework isn’t done or if they leave it around to make a mess. I think my newspaper ‘habit’ started in junior high. I have been reading the comics and Ann Landers that long. Got a lot of my education from that old girl (two middle age girls now). Of course, there are stranger events reported in the papers now than when I began reading so I would think parents would need to offer explanation and discussion on many articles these days.

Since we only get three days a week, the mess is there, but not overwhelming. I usually stack all of them on the living room coffee table and immediately remove all the sections we never look at (ads, classifieds, Sports page–yeah, we don’t care about the big game too much, either) and throw them straight into the recycling bin. I make a “read” pile, and a “not-read” pile. I throw out the “read” pile at the end of the day. Anything not read by Monday morning gets thrown out too. It’s mercenary, but necessary.

Anyway, I recommend the weekend subscription, it’s worth it..