Punctuation question

[John Hedtke]

FWIW, I've always used a colon, regardless of content.

"Dear Ron:"

rather than

"Dear Ron,"

I know I picked this up at a very young age, but where or if it's 
really correct, I couldn't say.

Yours truly,

John Hedtke
Author/Consultant/Contract Writer
www.hedtke.com <-- website
541-685-5000 (office landline)
541-554-2189 (cell)
john at hedtke.com (primary email)
johnhedtke at aol.com (secondary email)



At 01:39 AM 11/2/2007, Ron Wilbanks wrote:
>Over the years, I have always used a colon on the open salutation of 
>any letter, both personal and formal.  Lately, I have been receiving 
>business letters that use a comma, rather than a colon addressed to 
>my boss.  Likewise, I also see the use of the comma becoming far 
>more widespread than the colon in this area.
>
>Has the rules of writing changed, and now favor the comma for a 
>salutation, or is the colon still the rule?  My boss, who is 54 
>years-old, uses the comma all the time, as does his 19 year-old daughter.