I’d like to clarify, or add to, Gina’s point from my own perspective on this matter of participation.  A few things:

1. It is no “higher position” to be the one posting. Hardly! Many of the comments we receive from you, our friends, far exceed mine (I’ll speak only for myself) in wisdom, expertise, humor and analysis, and I’m exceedingly grateful for such valuable conversation.
2. With #1 in mind, I certainly hope that visitors to The Point don’t merely read posts but read the subsequent conversation with Pointificators in the Comments. Not only are the conversation participants smart, but they are fun. While I could get through the day without our conversations, I’m certainly much the richer for interaction with Lee, Farley, Steve (SBK), Jason Taylor, and many others. Without these and other Pointificators, this blog would be a boring echo chamber. It is the conversation which makes and sustains The Point. I know I speak for all of us when I say “Thank you” for taking the time to enrich our lives and the lives of other readers.
3. We encourage more folks to participate in the conversation. The new and less-frequent Pointificators are as much a treat as the regulars. Wanda Parker’s comment, for me, was a perfect example of a wholly unanticipated but truly wonderful thought, which I, at least, found moving.
4. In specific incidences and on specific topics, I’ve invited certain Pointificators to email a post to me, which I would place on The Point for me and others to comment upon. If this is something of interest to you, and the topic is one about which I might have responsive thoughts (this excludes, for example, “chick lit”), then by all means do email me and let’s see if there’s a place for it. It’s far more interesting to discuss your thoughts, after all, then it is to link to much of what passes for "news" in the modern yawnosphere.
5. Finally, I want to thank Gina for the “tough talk” in her last post. You know, the making us weep bit. It reminds me that she is owed some paybacks for a number of public humiliations and misdeeds which I’ve regrettably found myself too busy to fulfill. But this occasional big-britchery, and Lee’s helpful prodding, keep this important duty before me. I am both inspired and chastened; I hereby redouble my efforts!

Comments

[Gina Dalfonzo]

Yeah, you talk big, Thornburgh. ;-)

[Lee]

Hmmm, yes... can a lace-and-ruffles editor actually make a manly man weep?

[Dan Gill]

The higher position you hold comes from being able to choose topics and start conversations. Commenters cannot do that. You need not apologize for that, however. Anyone who can post at all can create his or her own blog. This is your playground. You make the rules.

Keep going.

[Jason Taylor]

"With #1 in mind, I certainly hope that visitors to The Point don’t merely read posts but read the subsequent conversation with Pointificators in the Comments. Not only are the conversation participants smart, but they are fun. While I could get through the day without our conversations, I’m certainly much the richer for interaction with Lee, Farley, Steve (SBK), Jason Taylor, and many others. Without these and other Pointificators, this blog would be a boring echo chamber. It is the conversation which makes and sustains The Point. I know I speak for all of us when I say “Thank you” for taking the time to enrich our lives and the lives of other readers."

Thank you, that really is important to me to know.