Regulating opinion is a preposterous task. How can opinion writers rate an argument with complete objectivity? To be frank, this might be a task best left to a computer with advanced elementary logic software. But until newspaper editors are finally replaced by the machines our copy-editing department has been piecing together since 1968, we'll just have to try our best.

To our endless delight, our staff has injected itself into numerous campus controversies this year. From law professor Leonard Kaplan to ASM to streetcars, they have offered a wide range of news analyses with the sort of nerdy ingenuity that can only be found on The Badger Herald opinion page.

It has truly been an honor to quietly manage the bulletin board of campus thought, and we can only hope to have pushed the right pins.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to send letters to the editor or even logged onto the website to post comments. From Germaine E. Stemme, Germaine Q. Stemme and Victor Blake Marx to the legions of confederate racists who hate Andrew Wagner, you've provided us with countless hours of comment-approving fun. Both the staff and we have benefited from your criticism beyond any measure. A hearty thanks is also in for the legions of guest columnists who have pitched in to give our readers a glimpse into areas far beyond our expertise.

Finally, we would like to bid farewell to our departing writers. Thanks to our advanced mathematical formulas and weird science technologies, we are once again able to tell you their whereabouts at this moment next year.

Emily Friedman will be pitching a story to ABC News about Mayor Dave's incompetence, Rob Rossmeissl will be finishing his memoir "An Optimist Trapped in Outer Space," Will Smith will be sticking with President Bush after Laura and Barney finally stop supporting him, Jeff Carnes will be pounding on the chancellor's door with a detailed list of advice, Sundeep Malladi will get off his nine-to-five job at 2:46 a.m. and Taylor Hughes will be writing "What I learned after college (part 365 of 128,710)."

As for our future, Emily is graduating to the national news circuit, and Bassey is going to be managing editor for the Herald. This is not a democracy — we have appointed our successors: Andy Granias and Jason Smathers will be taking over the reins of the page.

And the baby is due in August, so stop asking.