Are the MikChiks Scam Artists?

Dear MikChiks,

So, now, I have a question, and please don't judge me for my ignorance :) but I am still not quite sure if the conundrums you write about are from real people -- do you get letters from readers and that is how you form your responses or do you write the letter asking for advice? if you are taking letters from readers, do you edit them to make them work better for your blog? I ask because I have a possible conundrum I am struggling with in my own life. At least I think it's conundrum... still not 100% clear on the definition but what I do know is I am struggling.

Questioning and Struggling

 Dear  Questioning,

First off, we would like to assure The Readers that we did NOT write this letter.  It came from a "real" person.  We do not write letters to ourselves and seek our own advice.  We pinky promise this.  The repercussions of writing to ourselves (although intriguing) would include a new level of crazy—and we just aren't willing to go there. 

Not purposely anyway.

No, when we (Lisa and Maddie) have a conundrum of our own—we write to the Readers.  Every once in a great while, we'll do a spoof conundrum for a book review or a plug for one of our Enterprising Readers—but we let it be known.  In summary on the first question, our Eclectic Readers REALLY have all these problems—and for that we feel blessed. 

We've appreciated every single letter sent in. And we do our best to answer in a manner that entertains YET helps.  We gladly take the time to research and write.  You are not a means to our end (blogging)--we really like you.  We say like because some Readers may not be comfortable with our love.  But it's there.

Now do we edit them?  Generally, not much. Periodically (no pun intended), we correct a typo or assign a signature or a salutation—as sometimes Readers forget to greet us in the throes of their letter-writing.  But generally, we print the "uncut" version—it makes for grittier Reality Blogging.

Right.

There have been exceptions, and Questioning, your correspondence detailing your struggle will be among them as its length is less of a letter and more the length of a manifesto.  Not that we've read many of those lately.  But no worries—ve haf vays opf dealing vit deese tings—mainly we summarize, but provide a link for the original letter.

And Questioning, no question is ignorant—ESPECIALLY around here.  A conundrum is simply anything which perplexes (or sometimes annoys) (to any degree), to which you'd like some input from a Strange Diverse Readership.

We hope this helps clear up some things. 

Have we missed anything, Readers?

All in Goodwill, 

 (oh, yeah, we try to keep "all in goodwill"  (our version of the Golden Rule) and  "first do no harm"  (our version of the Hippocratic Oath) in mind around here.)

Maddie and Lisa