Since the beginning of this year, The Economist has been publishing a wider selection of letters to the editor, but only on the World Wide Web. They are available for comment, too, but only to the subscribers of the mighty newspaper. So far, three of my letters have appeared in the new section. They deal with the Chinese space program, Kosovo’s independence, and the latest international report on climate change, in that chronological order. Three letters in two months is not bad. Not bad at all. There is a rub, though. And a pretty serious one. For some reason, the place and country of the letter writer are not listed on the new website. This is at variance with the paper edition. In other words, the three recently published letters of mine do not mention Motovun. Why the hell am I writing all these letters, anyhow?!

Addendum I (March 8, 2007)

When I checked the same website earlier today, I discovered two more of my letters posted on it. The first concerns children’s wellbeing, a topic brought to light by a recent UNICEF report, and the second concerns electronic money. But both letters were written on the very same day. All in all, there are five letters of mine in a bit more than two months. Gosh! At this rate, I am destined to monopolize the entire site. Although I sent the above piece by way of complaint to The Economist, not a single letter of mine has appeared in print yet. It seems I have been relegated to the wider selection for good. Much more important, though, it seems Motovun has been relegated to utter obscurity. Not fair, I feel like shouting, not fair, but no-one appears to be listening. At least not in the editorial office of the mighty newspaper.

Addendum II (March 20, 2007)

By today, there are five more letters of mine in the wider selection. In chronological order, they cover such diverse topics as the environmental viability of biofuels, the miracle of Italian anarchy since World War II, the hapless American surge in Iraq, particle accelerators of ever-grander scales, and Milan Kundera’s new book about the novel. No less than ten letters in less than three months! This year, not a single letter in print, though. Not one! So, relegated to the wider selection I have indeed become. Period. The best I can do under the circumstances is to stop checking the new website and focus on my letters. If I wish to see Motovun’s proud name in print ever again, I should do my utmost to excel in the art of writing letters to the editor of The Economist. And an art it certainly is. The wider selection be damned.

Addendum III (April 6, 2007)

The number of my letters in the wider selection has been growing apace, of course, but this is not worth commenting upon any longer. However, there is a change in format that does merit a few words: since a few days ago, the town and country of the letter-writer appear under his or her name, just as in the printed edition. Motovun is back on the map, as it were! But this is true only of the letters posted on the World Wide Web the last few days. And so I wrote to the editor of the mighty newspaper congratulating him on the change, which makes a big difference to me personally, and asking him to add the town and country information to all the letters posted previous to this change. Once that is done, I will be a happy camper.