Rush to judgment

Tim RUTTEN wrote, in his review of the launch of Arianna Huffington’s new blog site, “Convention, however, demands a first impression” [“Huffington’s Blog Isn’t Fulfilling Potential -- Yet,” May 10]. I’m wondering if that’s the same convention that allows theatrical presentations a few weeks of tryouts before being reviewed?

Reviewing a website on its first day is like writing a history of a marriage based on the flavor of the wedding cake. Certainly Huffington’s ambitious undertaking has some kinks that will be worked out over the next few weeks. But why not give her a chance to work on them before unsheathing the editorial knife?

Not all of the contributions on Huffingtonpost.com’s first day were sparkling. But Huffington is attempting to find a new way of using the power of the Internet to communicate news and ideas, and it was churlish of Rutten not to at least acknowledge the value of the attempt.

Richard A. Sherer

Redondo Beach