Reader comments good for healthy debate

I’ve enjoyed writing this column for the past 12 or so years. Apparently you’ve enjoyed reading it or I wouldn’t still be here. The nice folks at the Frontiersman occasionally tell me they receive comments about the column and the fact that you are commenting is probably why I’m still being published!

Most of the comments have been complimentary, and that is appreciated. Some have been critical of my point of view and that’s as it should be. If we all saw the world the same way, this would be a very dull place. On a rare occasion, a reader will become vicious and make personal attacks. After one animal rights column years ago, one lady told me I must beat my wife. My skin has thickened over the years but I’m still vulnerable.

The comments that bug me the most are the ones made by a reader who only reads what they want to. That usually leads to a total misunderstanding of what I was trying to say, and the offended reader then goes on to criticize or even attack me personally. If you write for public consumption, you’ll learn about that thick skin thing.

There have been a couple of these misunderstanding situations recently. I wrote about the new Cabela’s store opening in Anchorage a while back. I commented about how I had the habit of using catalogs since the small communities I occasionally visited while living and working remote often didn’t have much selection in outdoor gear. The reader interpreted that to mean I was dishing the Palmer/Wasilla area and was not supportive of local purchasing.

I have never worked remote since moving to the Valley. My references were to areas like Homer (around 40 years ago), Dillingham (about 35 years ago), and Kodiak (about 25 years ago). I doubt either Palmer or Wasilla was much better off back then, but my references didn’t pertain to either. The other factor involves my somewhat eccentric taste in outdoor gear. I always seem to be looking for the oddball item that even Anchorage today can’t supply.

The second misunderstanding came from the column I wrote about the state Senate Resources Committee hearings on the condition of Cook Inlet salmon resources. One reader took me to task for blaming the commercial fishermen for the current condition of king salmon populations in the inlet and how I’m always blaming everything on the commercial sector.

Those who have read this column over time already know I have made numerous statements that I blame the fisheries managers, not any stakeholder. The problem is how the various stakeholders are allowed to do their tasks — and that is controlled by the managers. And for the record, again, the commercial drift fishermen are not even fishing when the kings are coming through Cook Inlet headed for our Northern District, so they have no impact on the king salmon situation here.

Several years ago, a friend approached me and asked how I could have said what I did in a column. He adamantly disagreed and was going to straighten me out. I told him to reread the column, slower this time, and see if he still thought I said what he thought I did. Once he slowed down and remembered to factor in the printed punctuation, he realized I had actually said exactly what he was going to tell me.

With space limits and my oftentimes long sentence writing style, I can see where folks might occasionally misinterpret stuff. And let me be the first to say I enjoy a good discussion of two differing points of view about a topic. I’ve had several with readers over time about topics like the Central District setnetters, the “hot spot” or targeted moose hunts, and others. To a person, these folks were polite and courteous but were not shy in letting me know they disagreed with my point of view.

After we had our discussions, I think both sides gained a broader understanding of the particular issue and perhaps even moved to a more “central” point of view. If you only hear one side all the time, pretty soon it becomes an effort to open your mind to hear a differing perspective. I applaud the readers who do try to at least keep an open mind while reading my opinions. I don’t expect you to agree with everything (that would be scary!) but I do expect you to be civil in your disagreements.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.