In today’s Newburyport Current Jim Stiles has passed on the information that the Newburyport Political Blog would be glad to host a civil discussion on the Waterfront. If that could be accomplished, that would be quite a feat considering that this has been such a hugely divisive issue that has been going on for more than 30 years.

If you do decide to send in a post, please read the guidelines that are at the side of the Newburyport Political Blog.

My goal for all guest bloggers is for your point of view to be heard. So, it helps if you use the first person–“I think, I feel, it is my opinion, etc.” Second of all, the tone of a posting is really important. A civil tone can be achieved by using verbs like “could, would, may, might,” instead of verbs like “should, can, will, must, have to.”

This doesn’t just apply to postings that may (see there’s that verb) come in about the Waterfront. These are tips that would (yup, there’s another one of those verbs) apply to any posting that concerns a controversial issue.

Calling people “idiots, stupid” (you get the drift) is just not a good idea.

And, if I don’t think your post is civil, I will email you back and suggest that you re-read this posting and the guidelines of the Newburyport Political Blog.

I’ll be interested to see where this goes.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport