Everything2 Glossary

@

Symbol used to denote a user who is an Administrator.

$

Symbol used to denote a user who is a Content Editor.

%

Symbol used to denote a user who is a member of the Everything Development team (this is only seen by other members of the team).

~

Symbol used to denote a user who is not in the default Chatterbox room, "Outside". Mouseover the ~ to see what room they are in.

addiction

A metric used on Everything's Best Users. Equals 'devotion' (see below) divided by the number of days since becoming a user.

Administrator

A person who helps to maintain Everything2. They have the power to perform tasks needed to help the system maintain its reliability and cohesion. Administrators were formerly known as gods, a term which is still used in some contexts.

autonoding

A way of creating nodes using computer automation with minimal human intervention. Examples are Webster 1913 and the Jargon File. Autonoding is generally frowned upon if used by the general user base, but it is used occasionally by the Administrators. If you have questions concerning using your computer to generate nodes, refer them to an Administrator.

autovoting

Autovoting is using a script or program to cast votes for you. These are HIGHLY FROWNED UPON and should not be used. The point of voting is to give your personal feedback on each individual writeup.

blab!

Each writeup has a box where you can type a message to the author regarding their writeup. "Blab!" is the button which submits these messages once you have typed them. This automatically prefixes your message sent with "Re: [writeup title]". If you have votes available, this button is marked "vote!" instead.

bless

If one of the Administrators catches you doing something exceptional to improve a part of Everything2, they can "bless" you with additional XP.

Blockstackers Intergalactic LLC

The parent company behind Everything2.

borg

Verb. When a user is borged by an Administrator, they lose the ability to use the Chatterbox for a finite period of time. Times range from a few minutes to many hours. This power is rarely exercised, but is reserved for cases where users are being exceptionally disruptive.

bot

Short for "robot". A piece of code that performs a function. On E2, this usually means a special user account under the control of the Administrators.

C!

Short for Cool.

catbox

Short for Chatterbox.

Chatterbox

A nodelet that simulates a chat client so that online users can talk to each other. Users may turn it off in their nodelet settings.

Ching!

Slang for Cool.

Content Editor

The under-appreciated yet vital group of users who help to clean up the mess left by trolls and fools. Duties range from suggesting spelling error corrections to nuking sub-standard writeups. This position is voluntary, and requires long hours with no pay. The rewards are knowing you're actually making a difference in maintaining the quality on E2.

Cool

Users of Level 4 or above have the ability to Cool (C!) a writeup they deem exceptional. This results in the name of the writeup being displayed on the front page of the website and the Cool Archive, and the author gaining 10XP. An Editor Cool is different, applying to a whole E2 node which gets added to the Page of Cool.

Cool Archive

The page that displays all the Cooled writeups.

Cool Man Eddie

A bot that tells you when a writeup of yours gets Cooled or Editor Cooled.

Cream of the Cool

A section of the front page which displays the six most recently Cooled writeups having a reputation between 17 and 25 inclusive.

daylog

A node whose title is a date, e.g. November 13, 1999. Daylogs form a free-form diary of life events and a place to add any other writing which doesn't fit in elsewhere on the site. These tend to receive heavy voting. They are listed in the Log Archive.

devotion

A metric used on Everything's Best Users. Derived by multiplying a user's merit by the total number of writeups they have written.

E2

Short for Everything2.

EBU

Short for Everything's Best Users.

EDB

Short for Everything Death Borg.

Editor Cool

Content Editors have the power to give an entire node an Editor Cool if it is an exceptional example of Everything2's content. These confer no XP gain but are much more prestigious. An Ed-Cooled writeup is held up as an example of good noding technique to everybody else.

Everything Death Borg

A bot under the control of the Administrators, which occasionally borgs unruly users.

Everything User Search

Provides a list of all the writeups of a given user.

firm link

A link placed at the top of a node by an Administrator, to redirect readers.

factual

Short for factual writeup. Refers to a writeup which covers actual real facts, as opposed to, say, fiction or poetry. Recipes, rants and reviews are all factual.

Getting To Know You

A type of node the purpose of whose existence is to give limited information about someone's opinion or life. They are usually in the form of a question, such as "How many people have you had sex with?" They are subjective nodes, likely to accumulate large numbers of low-content writeups, and have been frowned upon since the early years of the site; they are subject to deletion.

god

See Administrator.

GTKY

See Getting To Know You.

hard link

A link created in a writeup by placing [square brackets] around a word, sentence or phrase. Clicking the link automatically enacts a search for the phrase clicked. See Links on Everything2.

home node

A node associated with a single user. Everybody has a home node, including you. Home nodes cannot be deleted.

Klaproth

A bot. Used to distribute messages about deleted writeups; now retired. See Writeup deletion.

level

Your level is based on your XP and the number of writeups you have contributed. More powers are granted as you ascend. In particular, new users start at level 1, at level 2, you can vote, and at level 4, you can Cool other nodes.

marked for destruction

A message that states that a Content Editor has marked a writeup so it will be deleted during the next maintenance cycle (run daily at 07:00 server time).

Merit

Merit is an E2 metric used to assess how good a noder you are. The higher your merit, the faster you will gain levels. Merit is calculated by comparing the interquartile mean of the reputation of your writeups and comparing it with the IQM of E2 as a whole. See Honor Roll.

metanode

Metanodes are basically giant lists of nodes on a specific topic. Metanodes are allowed on E2, provided they are well-maintained, but adding the term "metanode" to a node title is considered a faux-pas, something to be avoided.

namespace

Verb. To namespace a node is to put unnecessary information in the title. Most often associated with song lyrics: an example of namespacing would be titling a node "The Beatles - Hold My Hand" as opposed to simply "Hold My Hand". This is almost always a bad idea. Put stuff where it goes.

node

Every individual page on Everything2 is a node - including the front page, homenodes, superdocs, regular writeups, nodelets and all special pages. Each node has a unique title. When people talk about 'nodes' without specifying what kind, they often mean what's technically called an e2nodes - the kind of nodes which can hold writeups underneath. "Node" is also a verb, meaning "to create nodes". Compare writeup.

node-fu

Your total XP divided by your number of writeups. The higher your node-fu, the better your wrteups are (theoretically).

node audit

Going through all of a user's writeups, voting and commenting on each one in turn.

nodegel

Slang term for all the content on E2.

nodelet

Any of about 20 small nodes which you can configure to appear in the sidebar of your E2 window. Prominent examples are the Chatterbox, Vitals (containing important links), and Epicenter.

noder

A person who creates nodes. More broadly, a registered user of Everything2.

nodeshare

The percentage of nodes that you wrote, compared to all the nodes in the database.

nodeshell

A normal node consisting only of a title, but no writeups.

nodeshell rescue

Adding information to an empty nodeshell, turning it into a worthy node.

nodevertising

Node advertising. Talking up one of your own nodes in the Chatterbox to get it noticed. This is a faux pas and you should be prepared for consequences.

nuke

Slang for having a writeup removed from the database.

Page of Cool

The page that displays all the Editor Cooled writeups.

pipe link

Allows you to re-direct a link. As an example, examine this link: Love. This was made using [Hate|Love]. This is a good way to add hidden commentary, humour, or even better information for your own writeups.

pulling an asamoth

Deleting the contents of all your writeups for one reason or another, or replacing them all with a short note asking that they be deleted. Requires extensive cleanup by the Content Editors. Typically followed by a rant on the home page. Named after asamoth, the first user to do this. Note that it is simpler for everyone if you just ask that your work be deleted.

reputation

The sum of votes on a writeup.

soft link

You create a "soft link" in a writeup by navigating from that writeup to another nodem by following hard links, or by using the "Search" field at the top of the page. Soft links are displayed below the node. They work like footprints; the deeper ones are displayed most prominently.

soft lock

A node can be locked so that no further writeups are allowed - see a Content Editor if you wish to add a writeup to these nodes.

superdoc

A special type of node which is not part of the database proper. Superdocs cannot contain writeups or soft links, but may contain otherwise-forbidden HTML tags, and Perl code. Superdocs can only be edited by certain users, and access to some of them is restricted. The home nodes for the Administrators also act like superdocs.

troll

Somebody who is rude and obnoxious in order to get attention. Trolling is mostly practiced by imbeciles.

vote

A way of telling somebody "I like this writeup" or "I don't like this writeup". All noders of level 2 and up can vote.

writeup

An individual user's piece of work. Many writeups may be put in the same node.

Webster 1913

An out-of-copyright dictionary of about 100,000 English words that was auto-noded.

Word Galaxy

Nate's Word Galaxy Generator (http://oostendorp.net/galaxy.cgi) is a Javascript toy which appears when Everything2 is otherwise unavailable.

XP

Experience Points. An abstract number which illustrates, roughly, how "well" you are doing within E2. These are gained by voting and noding, mainly.

XP whore

One who does anything to gain XP.

XP stoic

One who does not particularly care about gaining or losing XP. This is the preferred attitude on E2.

back to
Everything2 Help