What do you do when you want your thoughts made known? If you’re like many people today, you grab your computer or smartphone. Posting on social media means your friends and connections see your thoughts soon and can respond. This year marked the 10th anniversary of Facebook, an internet phenomenon that has vastly altered how we communicate and who we communicate with.

There’s no doubt islanders have embraced the tech age. But numbers show they also still value their weekly paper — subscriptions and advertising have stayed steady at The Beachcomber while at other papers they’ve declined. We want to remind readers that the pages of The Beachcomber, as well as our website, are open to everyone and are just as, if not more effective as Facebook or Twitter at putting what you have to say on display.

The letters to the editor section is meant to be a community forum. Many people don’t realize that The Beachcomber runs nearly every letter we get. This is partly because we don’t get so many letters that we have to pick and choose, but partly because we want the letters section to be open to everyone and all ideas. We prefer letters on Vashon-specific topics or Beachcomber articles, and often opt to run those first, but we don’t require it. The letters section is a peek at community sentiment, a snapshot in time of what islanders are thinking and talking about. While online posts are forgotten in a few days, a letter to the editor is put in print for thousands of readers to see and goes down in history in our town’s news records. A writer gets the final word, so to speak, on a topic — that is, until someone responds the next week.

We only ask that letter writers follow a few simple guidelines, and every now and then we take time to remind you of them. Letters should be 300 words or less and signed by a person — they can’t be anonymous. We ask that writers be civil and accurate. Finally, the letters section isn’t a place to put personal disagreements in ink, and attacks on individuals won’t be published.

Letters to the editor open readers to new points of view, can sway public opinion and could even influence what the newspaper covers. The Beachcomber has traditionally had a thriving letters section where islanders weigh in with vigor, skilled rhetoric and often entertaining prose. This is especially true when there’s a topic of controversy in our pages — be it marijuana at K2 or whether cats should be kept inside. But don’t wait until that time that everyone is writing in. When you feel moved, grab your computer and send an email to editor@vashonbeachcomber.com. We want to give you a platform to share your thoughts with your physical community, not just your virtual one.