I'm for it.

Creamy peanut butter is better than crunchy peanut butter. That's a statement of opinion--my opinion, actually. I think that's correct.

The way most states draw election districts is a travesty. That's a statement of opinion--that of the Lansing State Journal editorial board. We think that's correct.

Yet many of our colleagues would never write in an editorial, "We think the way election lines are drawn is a travesty" Use of the "imperial we;' as it is known, has been frowned on for years. But I say, no more.

Editorials reflect the view of a group of people--at least in most of our shops. So why wouldn't we use the collective pronoun to reflect that fact?

There is no real difference between a bylined column and an editorial. Each is an argument framed in writing.

Some newspapers even have started using bylined edits: "Joe Smith on behalf of the News-Times-Herald editorial board."

But "Joe" isn't writing for a building or a table. In fact, while I've seen items on eBay that have demanded I purchase them, I usually find inanimate objects don't speak at all.

Newspapers are about people. Saying "we" in an editorial doesn't make us imperious anymore, it makes us honest.

In this day of blogging and electronic data searches, newspapers no longer have an institutional edge on the collection and analysis of information. We are no longer the ultra-well-connected voice from on high.

These days, our value and credibility rest in our skill, our diligence, our transparency. Newspapers--especially editorial pages-need to be animate. We need to be more

Who writes an editorial? Who decides what the editorial says? On what was the decision based?

As writers, we are not going to convince anyone of the proper stand on Iraq or a local zoning issue by trying to appear a disinterested monolith. In my shop, and many others, an editorial reflects what a group of people happens to think at a given time based on a certain amount of information.

Readers may not like what we decide or write, but they'll know who's responsible--and it isn't a pile of bricks and mortar.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Among the esoteric arguments that have raged since editorial pages first walked the Earth has been that over the "Imperial 'We'" Is its use a sign of arrogance personified? Or is it an essential tool of the editorialist's craft, one that personalizes an institutional point of view? We all have seen this debate flare up from time to time on the NCEW listserv. Now, the final words on "we." We swear.

Derek Melot is assistant editorial page editor for the Lansing State Journal in Michigan. E-mail dmelot@ lansing.gannett.com transparent, too.