No one is quite sure when the first letter to the editor appeared in a newspaper.

While opinion pieces have been around since the first words were recorded, the letter to the editor in the form we recognize today has been a part of printed publications since, well, the beginning of printed publications.

They seem to really have caught on in the mid-1700s, as printing presses became more common and writers looked for ways to share their thoughts with a wider audience.

Whenever they actually started, they’ve continued to grow and evolve, even as the way we communicate with each other is changing. The platform for sharing your opinion might have shifted from the newspaper to any one of the many social media platforms that are out there, but the concept remains the same — you have the ability to get your thoughts out and share them with other people.

There have been countless numbers of letter published across the years, and while it’s certainly open for discussion, it’s likely that the most famous letter just might be the one 7-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to The New York Sun in September 1897. The girl asked a question that has an answer that is as simple as it is complex: Did Santa Claus exit?

The response came in an editorial written by Francis Pharcellus Church, in which he assured her, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

It remains such a powerful opinion piece that it continues to be republished by countless newspapers — including ours — each year in the days leading up to Christmas.

Not every letter will attract that type of response. While many writers want to share their opinions about the state of the national government, state politicians and the world in general, others use the forum to thank others for acts of kindness or to show their support for –or anger at — the mayor and other officials.

You might not agree with everything people write, and that’s OK. Like everything else in the newspaper, you are free — and encouraged — to draw your own conclusions and develop your own opinions — and if you feel so moved, write a response. Or, you can just sit on the sidelines and complain over coffee or at meetings with your friends and neighbors.

When it comes to letters to the editor, guest columns and other items, there’s no outlet in our area that has more experience — opinion pieces have been a part of our pages since our first edition was printed on June 7, 1806. That gives us 220 years of experience in handling numerous issues — there are few newspapers left in the country that can offer that kind of history.

This past year was no exception. Including the submissions you’ll find today’s edition, we published 165 letters to the editor and 109 guest columns. When you add those totals to the regular submissions we publish from members of the local ministerial association, the Rev. Darrell Cummings and Paul Zuros, the executive director of Historic Fort Steuben who offers biweekly looks into the area’s history, you will find that we published somewhere around 400 opinion pieces during 2025.

While the number of submissions we will receive in a given week varies widely, the weeks that lead up to an election traditionally have seen the greatest number of letters. That was the case again this year, as the single biggest day for submissions was Oct. 26 — the last day we published letters before the Nov. 4 election — when we ran 11 letters to the editor and a guest column.

The most we ran any other week was seven, and that happened twice, on Sept. 21 and Nov. 23. We published six letters on two occasions, Aug. 9 and Oct. 5, and we published five letters four times, on Feb. 2, March 2, Oct. 19 and Nov. 16.

All of those numbers are part of a forum that remains open to anyone who wants to write. No matter what you might have heard, or read somewhere else or have been told, we publish just about every letter that makes its way to our office. There are no topics or public officials that are off limits — as long as a submission meets a very few simple criteria, it will be published.

While we always have the right to reject or edit any submission, the two most common reasons for a letter to be rejected are length and frequency. There is a limit of 500 words for a letter to the editor. It’s a restriction that helps ensure that the section will remain available to a wide range of writers who want to share their opinions. That’s also the reason why we limit an individual writer to one submission every four weeks.

Guest columns can run a little longer than letters, typically as long as 1,000 words, depending on the topic.

One of the most frequent comments we receive from those who submit letters is that the 500-word limit can be difficult to stick to. Yes, it can be, but if you insist that you just are not able to edit your 677-word submission down to 500 words, we will not be able to publish it.

Letters that are determined to be slanderous, libelous or personal attacks will not be published. Any time we reject a letter or a guest column, we will contact the writer and explain the reasoning behind the decision. The writer then will have a chance to edit or rewrite and refile the piece.

Remember that letters and guest columns represent the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the newspaper. That said, writers who choose to share their opinions in a public forum must be willing to accept that not everyone will agree with their perspective, and that others are welcome to share their responses.

Responses to those responses by the writer of the original piece are not permitted, though. Put simply, if someone writes in response to a letter you have written, you will not be able to respond in return. That would lead to nothing more than a continual back-and-forth on the same subject. You will have had your say, others will have had their say and then it’s time to move to another topic.

It’s easy to get a letter to us. You can drop it off in person at the newspaper offices; you can send it by e-mail; you can use our Virtual Newsroom; you can send it by fax; or you can use the traditional United States Postal Service. E-mail and the Virtual Newsroom are the preferred method of submission –if you give us a letter in any other format, someone else will have to type it into our system before it can be published, which slows the process and increases the possibility of an error.

We do not accept anonymous letters, known form letters or letters with multiple signatures. And, every submission must contain the town the writer lives in and a telephone number where the writer can be reached. Those numbers are used as part of our confirmation and verification process and to make it easier to contact the writer if there are questions about the letter. They are never published or shared with anyone.

The deadline for submitting a letter for any given week is noon on Thursday. There are some exceptions at various times during the year, such as letters concerning an election or when a holiday falls during the middle of the week. Those exceptions will be published well in advance.

Whether you are looking to write about the state of local or national politics, want to support a particular issue or candidate or just say thank you to an organization or individual who has helped you or the community, we’re proud to be able to continue being able to provide an opportunity to share your thoughts with your friends and neighbors.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)