We all know that (in general) print coverage of the women's game leaves a lot to be desired. There are many reasons for that -- some rational, some irrational -- but a recent action by Donna O. and the WNBA to drum up media support for the W hit a nerve with Kim over at Women's Basketball Online.

Her site is an awesome resource, but most of us use her "Daily News" page to keep track of online coverage of women's basketball, so you may have missed her rant. I've taken the liberty of reprinting her words of wisdom.

5/17: I haven't commented on anything in awhile, but I think this warrants it. Who in the world told WNBA Prez Donna Orender this would in any way be effective or helpful? Newsflash (pun slightly intended): it will HURT your cause more than help it. The number one rule of writing letters to the media: no form letters. Ever. Under any circumstance. And you sure as heck don't email multiple newspapers at the same time, an even surer way to make sure your email gets deleted.

Number two should be: don't write to newspapers you know little or nothing about. Not a regular reader of the Sacramento Bee? Then don't contact them about their coverage even if someone begs you to. And for goodness sake you certainly shouldn't be encouraging the bombardment of complaints to papers who don't deserve it. The Seattle Times needs to improve its Storm coverage? Really? How much more can Jayda Evans do?

Furthermore, writing letters to generic addresses isn't likely to get you very far either. Do some research and write directly to the editor(s) and beatwriter(s). And don't go by WNBA.Com's list as they didn't do very thorough research into the newspapers that cover each team, try my WNBA page instead.

Several years ago I created a Media Tips Guide to writing letters to the media after speaking with several women's basketball beat-writers and college SIDs to get their suggestions for effective communication. It was quite enlightening hearing some of their comments - in particular how too much negative feedback about coverage can actually have the reverse effect even on editors and writers who are trying to provide good coverage.

Take note of how many "rules" WNBA.Com breaks.

Why is it that I am I still surprised that the W can't tap the invaluable resources that are alreaydy out there in cyber-land? Perhaps some wise person will forward this information to TPTB....