welcome aboard Steve. :)

Been here almost from the start, and it's been fun conversing with you regularly.

Hope you keep in contact both here and elsewhere, so that everybody can meet up with you as you travel around (Still fondly recall the fin evening in SF last October)

You also obliquely remind me that I need to knuckle down and get back into school also: I've just about gone as far as I can go without a 4-year degree, so I have to do what I can, in order to continue to advance.

Cheers!

"It's no longer IOKIYAR....It's OK If You're A Republican, but IOKBYAR--It's OK BECAUSE You're a Republican." -- Me

"return to graduate school"

But... Are you sure? Really sure?... I would not advise anyone, with the exception of the supermotivated and supertalented ones to go to graduate school these days. Not saying you are not both, just making sure you gave it enough thought.

Been here from pretty much the start too, Bulletin Boards, remember them? And wasn't there a BB kind of Agonist before that?

I know you're not really going anywhere, Agonist will no doubt remain on your daily list of reading, lol.

Welcome Steve.

Caribdude (AKA Beleardude)

Hard to write books when you continually discharge onto the net.

Best of luck, not-so-young man.

PS. Hard to believe it's been so long. Think I first showed up in 2003.

I did inhale.

but also exciting. the king is dead, long live the king!

I know that blogging regularly and the surfing that underlays it takes a big chunk of time, so I understand your decision. Steve has good creds and I'm sure will steer in the right direction. Glad to welcome him aboard and looking forward to it.

I expect the grad school is a personal goal, but remember there are a lot of us waiting for your 'long form writing' and hoping that gets done soonish.

I haven't been around as long as some, but long enough to appreciate the uniqueness of this site and realize the thanks we owe you for putting it together.

Good luck and don't be a stranger.

It is worth remembering that the Founding Fathers were all traitors.

Best of luck to you.

I mean...first Ira Glass hands off TAL, now this! My world is being turned upside down!

greater things (but still sticking around here a bit too!). What are you going to major in at grad school?

Good luck!

bring you success in your new projects.
You'll be missed.

Going to miss your wit, wisdom and unique thinking about subjects which I would have never given a second thought. Grad School at UT-Austin or where? Nevertheless, good luck and don't be a stranger and blog once in awhile.

huh?huh?

Seriously- best of luck to you both......
_{The origin of the universe has not as yet been shown to be a conspiracy theory}

hearing you on NPR, in 03, I think. That's how I got here. Do what you do well, well.

http://mauberly.blogspot.com/

It's impossible not to put in a thought or two on a post, so I'm sure we'll see your contributions from time to time. But it has to be a burden checking in every day, making sure the contributions are fresh, and overseeing the mechanical elements of running a website. I'm surprised you've done it for ten years.

One thing I've learned on the Agonist is the difference between orthology and ornithology. I'm sure there are enough grammar police to keep us all honest in your absence, but who is going to be our resident bird watcher?

but a change in the master weaver. The threads will still continue. All the best SPK, and a re-welcome to Steve!.

You're one of a kind. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for not stoning me to silence.

_{"Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison." ~ Mary Wolstonecraft}

and many thanks for providing the site and all your many contributions.
I look forward to buying the book the next time you travel around the world.

Nothing best the best vibes to you in the future.

Your work here has been more valuable than you can know. All the best to you in your further endeavors.

Hi everyone. For those that don't know me, I've been a sometime contributor and oftener a lurker at The Agonist for over five years, so I know how awesome an e-i-c Sean Paul has been these many years..and a damn good friend too. I wish him the very best of luck in all his endevours and I'm sure certain he won't be deserting us entirely. S-P, may the sun always be on your face and the wind at your back. Ce mille failte.

I'm really stoked about being the new e-i-c at The Agonist. I love this blog and I promise I won't be taking a butcher's knife to all I know you folks know and love too. I want to get this right, so I'll be listening to a lot of advice and making sure I know what I am doing first and foremost. My own preferred area is foreign policy and foreign affairs, so I'll be concentrating my own blogging there. On domestic politics I'm more a European democratic socialist than a liberal so don't be suprised if I critizise the Democrats from the left in the rarer posts where I take on domestic issues. Still, I'd rather let people who really know their stuff on the subject write domestic political commentary. I know we've a great community of essayists here and I'll be setting aside lots of time to get to know many of those I haven't yet read enough of - and promoting the best to the front page. Here's hoping I don't make to many or egregious mistakes in the learning process and that, if i do, you all will help to catch my stumbles.

Thanks and warmest regards, Steve

I've been a member for 5 years and 12 days. I've read this blog for just about every one of those days. That's 1837 page views from me. I always scan at least the first page and then check out the Newswire page.

Thank you for setting this up and keeping it a quality site for news and opinion.

I look forward to seeing what Steve Hynd does with the site.

Best wishes Sean Paul, I look forward to hearing about your studies.

and you created it, SPK. It's been a privilege posting here with the likes of you. I've been here in one form or another for almost the entire life of this blog. The first person ever to reply to one of my posts was Stumpy.

Congratulations, I guess. I believe in your judgment calls for your personal trajectory.

I still look forward to meeting you F2F, as they say. I'll try to remember to ping you regarding a Minor Mishap Marching Band show.

Thanks for looking after the place all this time. it seems like not so long, and yet so long; y'know what I mean?

"Salud, amor, y pesetas"

Sorry to see you step down....

I await the new cap'n and see if he commands my loyalties.

Best of luck with your new (ad)ventures!

Best of luck Sean Paul... we'll miss you.

Steve H.. Don't worry about calling things as you see them.. SPK has been doing that since I joined this blog nearly 6 years ago. That's one of the main reasons this site is still one of the half dozen I read each day. Best of luck to you too.

HB

As someone who knows both our outgoing E-i-C and has had a fair amount of correspondence with and regularly read our incoming E-in-C, i think it's safe to say that we'll all be satisfied.

Steve's blogging on foreign affairs is top notch, and until he took his blogging sabbatical was my first stop for foreign affairs blogging ... particularly on Afghanistan. And don't let him fool you, he'll write about domestic politics; more importantly, the more bitter and cynical among us will feel right at home reading his take on the American Political Circus.

The Agonist is one of the first places i found and bookmarked because of SPK and the intelligent commentary that occurred beneath his posts. I don't think that will change at all.

And SPK damned well better still hang around. I expect to see him dropping his quippy deep thought posts, but more importantly, i think we'll get to read long, thoughtful essays from him when he's freed from the burden of generating lots of content.

And welcome aboard, Steve. I, for one, welcome my new Newshogger overlord :-)

Can I rub your neck, boss? Did you need a fresh cup of coffee? Let me get your dry cleaning for you!

Kind regards!

You've said goodbye to us before.

You will return.

And we'll be happy to see you back again.

Hope your journey is all you want it to be.

"Lord! What Fools these Mortals be!"

Thanks for all the work and insight. You've built up a great community here. Good luck in your future endeavors. What school and what program?

for what you've done here, and best of luck going forward.

Welcome, Steve.

I'm sure we'll still be reading your posts in another 10 yrs ;)

the run up to the the Iraq Invasion was mentioned in the NYTimes.

Sad days, and it was a godsend to find a site like this. Thank you, good luck and success in your next endeavors, and, yes, please do drop by.

Maybe you be Editor in Chief Emeritus...or something like that.

Thanks SPK for all of your great posts and for raising my awareness on a lot of issues. I look forward to reading your long-form writing, and to the occasional blog posts as well. :)

one of my fav editors and one who taught me a lot!