Th-Th-That's All, Folks! [Eric]

Well, folks, it's been a blast. This was my first time going into the blogosphere without an editor, and I definitely jumped into the deep end of the pool by sharing such a prestigious site with three very smart and talented writers. I'd like to think the various thoughts I wrote down from off the top of my head were worth your time.

To Andrew: I can't thank you enough for giving me this opportunity, and I hope I did good job taking care of your brand for a week.

To Bruce, Stephen and Liz: You're all great people, and I hope to meet you in person some time.

To anyone who enjoyed my posts: I hope to see you over at TPM, where I normally write. It's been fun.

On a side note, the guest writers here seem to fall prey to what I can only call Opening Act Syndrome. You the readers show up here for Andrew, so anyone else is bound to be a letdown. And while a lot of the feedback we got was positive, engaging us on the issues we were posting about and definitely expanding my own horizons, there was also a certain level of hate mail.

Just check out this one:

I’d have to say that the three guest-bloggers, as skilled and intelligent as they might be, are not meant for this venue. I don't go to AndrewSullivan.com to see three people yelling their three contradictory opinions at each other. I go to AndrewSullivan.com to see one man yelling his own three contradictory opinions at himself, and that’s what’s great about it.

A single guest-blogger, or simply a break in the blog entirely, would be more accessible.

So what rude person wrote that letter? It was none other than I, in December of 2004, thinking then that the guest-writers were a waste of my time and mental energy. If you'd told me then that three years later I'd be guest-blogging here myself, would I have written that letter? I might have, because I wouldn't have believed you.

I haven't complained about the mail for a simple reason: I really deserved it!

So one day, you too might become a guest-writer for Andrew Sullivan. Take that as both an inspirational and a cautionary tale.