Audience comments, the spice of history -- "Packets of letters": audience comments before freedom of the press -- "A sure sign of liberty, and a cause of it": audience feedback and the emergence of the free press -- Commodification of comments: professional bias and gatekeeping of letters to the editor -- Professional journalism's transformation of "a quaint tradition" -- Concerning "crackpots": the media's love-hate relationship with feedback -- "In my opinion ...": commenting as individual agency -- "We, the people ...": commenting as collective action -- Conclusion: Gatekeeping in an age without fences
