Two unrelated moments today got me thinking again about MonroeTalks.com.

First, a student stopped me as I walked across campus to ask if I had seen the latest flare-up on MonroeTalks involving Sojourner, a regular poster who revels in controversy.

Then on my semi-regular visit to Poynter Online, a sort of journalism think tank, I ran across a blog post by media analyst Rick Edmonds about Topix.com.

Topix aggregates news - that is, it collects news stories from a variety of sources and packages them for each community in the country.

Check under Monroe and you’ll find a bizarre collection of news, most from Detroit or Toledo Web sites.

None of the news stories are original and there is no effort to be comprehensive. So you end up with an interesting but hardly useful mish-mash of news.

More of Topix’ Web traffic seems to come from the “Talk” section, where site users can comment on anything they choose.

As with MonroeTalks.com, the conversation is varied and sometimes not very civil. Because Topix is owned by respectable newspaper companies - Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy - Edmonds questioned whether the level of uncivility is appropriate. 

He noted that newspapers have been struggling since the advent of user comments to find the balance between unfettered, open dialogue and maintaining tight enough control to satisfy their traditional high ethical standards 

Most readers of this blog probably know that until eight weeks ago I led the team of folks at The Evening News who moderate MonroeTalks.

We spent many hours discussing this very topic. But invariably we decided to err on the side of letting people have their say with as little intervention by the newspaper as possible.

That philosophy was described by Topix creator Chris Tolles as a “culture shift,” according to Edmonds.

That’s exactly what it is.

I don’t pretend to understand why the Internet is the way it is. But users of Web sites like Topix and MonroeTalks are looking for a place to express themselves - without big brother looking over their shoulders.

It was fun checking out MonroeTalks again. I’m still amazed by the depth and diversity of the comments. And yes, some are still lacking in civility.

This is a story about how silly - or outrageous - transportation costs can be in America.

My wife, Kathy, and I needed to visit a friend in Boston. But we also wanted to see our granddaughter in New York.

And I had heard about the inexpensive Chinese buses from New York to Boston. I checked, and sure enough it was cheaper to fly to New York and ride the bus to Boston than to fly round trip from Detroit to Boston.

So, crazy at it seems, we flew Friday night to New York, enjoyed the evening with our son, his wife and daughter. Then we caught the 7 a.m. bus to Boston, returning to New York on the 5 p.m. bus. That gave us 5 1/2 hours in Beantown to visit our friend. We spent most of Sunday in New York, then flew home Sunday evening. Besides the planes and buses, we also road the subway in New York and a commuter train in Boston.

Planes, trains, buses and subways, all in three days.

Here’s the crazy part. Check out the prices:

One round-trip plane ticket Detroit to New York - $330.

One taxi ride from the airport to Prospect Park in Brooklyn - $30.

One subway ride from Brooklyn to Chinatown (about the same distance as the airport to Prospect Park) - $2.

One bus ride (4 1/2 hours) from New York to Boston - $15.

One train ride from downtown Boston to Needham in the suburbs - $4.75.

That’s right. It cost twice as much for a 20-minute taxi ride than for a 215-mile bus ride. You can ride the subway for miles for $2.

In case you’re wondering, the bus ride, on the Fang Wah bus line, was pleasant and uneventful. The bus left and arrived on time. There was a 15-minute rest stop halfway. It was clean and appeared to be safe.

That contrasts with the plane, which left 90 minutes late, spent another hour on the runway in New York waiting for a gate, was crowded and noisy and generally unpleasant, with an extra charge for anything and everything.

I may never have the occasion to ride the bus from New York to Boston again. But it’s a great bargain. As are New York subways and Boston commuter trains.

As for the plane flight - next time we’re driving. We’ve made the drive before. It’s nine hours from our doorstep to our son’s, and it costs about $150 in gas.  

With all the delays, it took us 8 hours to get to our son’s doorstep. That includes driving to the airport (arriving 90 minutes early, as recommended), and at the other end waiting in a long line for a taxi.

Let’s see: $720 (two round-trip plane tickets and two taxi fares) for an 8-hour trip filled with aggravation.

Or $150 (price of gas for the round trip) for a relatively pleasant 9-hour drive through the hills of northern Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In fairness, the plane trip can take as little as 4 hours if everything goes right, from doorstep to doorstep. But it doesn’t seem like everything goes right very often these days.