I don't know that it's cause and effect but ever since the New York Times did away with the name, not the concept, of an "Op Ed" page I have the sense that I have read more interesting "Guest Essays" as the product of non-staff opinion writers is now called. I have a vague recollection of reading an outstanding Guest Essay before last week, but I may be wrong. I know that I just read one, I Created ‘The X-Files.’ Here’s Why I’m Skeptical of the New U.F.O. Report.; and I thought I had just read another, Where Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling, which is the single best--by far--article I have ever read on the subject (It is long as hell, will take you half an hour to read; the length itself is a hallmark of "outside" (Quasi's columnists are on a word count.)). But, it turns out that Zeynep Tufekci, whose contributions I am unaware of having read previously, "is a contributing Opinion writer." Whatever the hell that means.

When Kathleen Kingsbury announced the retirement of Op Ed she assured readers that,

Times Opinion insists on a set of principles. We enforce rules for grammar and style. We demand certain standards of cogent argument, logical thought and compelling rhetoric. We require transparency about the identities of writers and their motives.

The other essay I read that I am sure was guest, was the abortion on aerobics last weekend, which flagrantly violated Kingsbury's "cogent argument" and "logical thought" criteria. 

So maybe I am wrong. Maybe dispatching the nomenclature did not improve the Opinion page; the current hits and misses ledger reads 1-1-1 which my vague recollection would render 2-1-1 by any other name is still only "better than average."