Regular readers of The Oakland Press have probably noticed the “darts and laurels” feature on our Saturday Opinion Page.

We also refer to the column as our “thumbs” feature — for obvious reasons. We give thumbs up and thumbs down to individuals, groups, communities and/or organizations. Anyone and anything is fair game.

The only basic rule is that the accolade or criticism has to go to a person or entity that was written about, usually during the previous week.

Generally, the “thumbs up” items don’t draw much dispute. It’s hard to criticize some one who wins an award or a group that has raised money for a charity. Probably the only negative statement is that some items that deserve the extra spotlight don’t get in because we can only run a total of four each week. And usually we try to throw in at least one thumbs down. These latter items are the most difficult because what one person considers negative action may be deemed appropriate by someone else.

For example, some one convicted of a serious crime deserves a thumbs down, to say the least. And there are many criminals who fall into this category who escape the digital rating because we just don’t have space.

But what about city council that closed the local library because of a lack of operating funds? Should it get a thumbs down for closing such a popular facility? Should it get the negative assessment because it couldn’t find other areas of the budget to trim?

Maybe, however, the council deserves a thumbs up for being fiscally prudent and balancing the budget. This is one area so subject to debate and opinion that rarely do we chastise a city for taking such action.

On the other hand, we might give a well earned downward pointed thumb to a city council that cut library funds but went on a junket to Florida. Still, even here it’s sometimes debatable. Maybe the trip was for a seminar that taught city council members how to budget more prudently.

A number of readers have called the Saturday feature a “thumb sucker,” saying it really has no news value because all it does it repeat something that happened earlier in the week.

Likewise, many readers like the feature and even more respond when they disagree with a thumbs down.

For those who want to be reminded, The Oakland Press is reader driven and we try to provide subscribers with what they want.

And based on this policy, the darts and laurels column will be around for a while.