The function of being the community's forum for criticism meant that the papers received letters that ranged in subject matter from a girl criticizing a boyfriend's mother (which did get published) to calling out party officials on corruption. The editors then needed to make delicate judgments on what subjects to investigate in order to authenticate, and when to publish anonymously in order to protect the author from recrimination. Advice was even given to punish those who took revenge on the authors of published criticisms.