Welcome to the new look page four — a page we have now clearly titled as ‘Opinion’ in order to greater reflect its purpose.Opinions are the lifeblood of democracy — and also the lifeblood of any newspaper if it is serious about giving a platform to its readers to let them have their say.This newspaper wants to actively encourage people to send in their letters — whether it is to express their opinions on issues of the day or simply to thank someone for a job well done. That is why we have this page.We have very clear guidelines — and we will not accept letters for publication if they break basic rules such as using anonymity to launch a personal attack on an individual. We also have the laws of libel and defamation to consider.We will continue to publish anonymous letters — a poll on www.royalgazette.com and feedback we received convinced us that there was a desire from the public to continue that policy. However all letters must be accompanied by a full name, address and daytime telephone number so that they can be verified. Without those, there will be no publication.For years, we have also had a policy of restricting letters to 350 words. This new design calls for us to enforce that policy — but as English Poet Laureate Robert Southey said: “It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”For the same reason, The Royal Gazette asks that those who submit opinion pieces should do so in no more than 600 words. If the issue is of such importance and the word limit greatly exceeded, it may be split into two to run on consecutive days.The Royal Gazette understands that it will take some time for our readers to react and there are columns and letters waiting to be published that breach the word count. However brevity will be encouraged.On another, related, note, The Royal Gazette encourages comments and debate on stories published on www.royalgazette.com, however it has clear guidelines for what will be allowed. The level of vitriol spewed is sometimes shocking and this newspaper does not, ever, condone that.But this newspaper cannot monitor the comments 24/7 and as a result relies heavily on self-policing — the readers’ use of the report abuse button. Please use it.Ÿ E-mail your thoughts to acting Editor Jeremy Deacon, jdeacon@royalgazette.comŸ Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think: https://twitter.com/jeremydeacon1