Here is a great guide to how to comunicate with a columnist about their column:
Sept. 7, 2004
Notes on Reader Feedback

Sunday's column was my annual look back at the past year's reviews, focusing on some of the key developments that occurred in everything from digital music to Internet telephony to the Service Pack 2 upgrade to Windows XP. The purpose, as I noted in print, is to revisit some of the bigger issues facing technology consumers and see if any of my earlier thoughts are in need of revisiting. Check out the column here.

For the next week, I'll be doing something unnatural but thoroughly necessary: Taking my hands off the keyboard while enjoying a belated, badly needed vacation.

I expect to pay for this with a backlog of e-mail messages. Knowing how I work, I will read all of them and answer most of them in one way or another. It's just part of the job. I can't consider any review truly complete until I've heard from readers who have tried the same product; if their experiences depart radically from mine, I might have to take a second look to see what I missed.

I can't imagine doing this job without that kind of feedback -- the only really bad column is the one that gets no reader response at all.

However ... how can I put this politely? Not all of the mail I get is equally helpful. What I'd like to offer here is some advice, based on my own thoroughly unscientific and subjective experience, on how to communicate effectively with reporters -- or at least me.

First, the basics: Use a subject header that clearly communicates a) what you're writing about, and b) that you're not just another spammer. In other words, don't use a blank header, don't type in all caps or all lower case, and please don't use multiple exclamation points. I'd hate to trash your message by mistake, or have my mail program do that for me.
* If you're writing to say "great job:"


I won't complain! But don't be surprised if these e-mails get the briefest of replies: "thanks for the kind words" or "you're welcome." Time's short, and messages that don't invite an argument or request further information are the most likely to get a generic response. (That's right; I'll spend more time dealing with a hostile reply than a friendly one. Sick, eh?)

If you're writing a letter to the editor and are just cc'ing me on it, I'm probably not going to reply. Nothing personal -- just trying to conserve my time.
* If you're writing to say what an uninformed hack I am:


Hey, go right ahead. No reporter likes being told that he or she got it wrong, but if nobody told us that, the error would never get corrected. It'd live on in databases and the Web site to lead readers -- and other reporters -- astray for all time. Not good karma.

Obviously, if you can do this without gratuitously insulting my intelligence or ethics, I will be better able to deal with the substance of your message. Bonus points if you can point me to a source that proves what the story should have said -- a Web page or a story elsewhere.

On the other hand, messages that only consist of generic insults won't get any kind of a constructive response. And if a message looks like it's part of a letter-writing campaign, it's hard for me to give it much credibility. If somebody can't spent more than a minute to craft a concise note, I probably can't either.

Finally, you're welcome to vent to me about how our Web site looks or works, but I don't work there and I have no special influence on the people who do. All I can do is point you to washingtonpost.com's extensive help/reader feedback page.
* If you're writing to ask me a question:


Please realize that some queries are answer-proof. Asking me "what's a good computer for a student" is like asking our restaurant critic "what's a good restaurant in Fairfax County." Those are impossibly vague questions -- I can't begin to answer it without quizzing you at great length over what you're looking to do with that computer, what your preferences are like and so on.

The more specific your question, the better. If you're looking for advice on which of two different models of laptop to buy, I can probably provide some worthwhile guidance. If you cite the exact text of the error message you see, I've got a better shot at figuring out what might have gone wrong. If you tell me what you want to do with a particular gadget and how much you want to spend, I can offer more useful advice.

I try to answer mail as quickly as I can, but if you need a response immediately you're probably not going to get it from me. Sorry. Answering e-mail is something I do when time permits, not in place of reporting, writing and editing. For about the same reason, I'm less likely to answer a second or third e-mail from a reader on the same subject if—as always seems the case -- I have 30 other messages from other people to answer.

Anything I left out? Stop by next week for my next Web chat, or drop me an e-mail at the address below.

-- Rob Pegoraro (rob@twp.com)