Like a lot of people my very first contact with E2 occured through slashdot. This must have happened 6-8 years ago and I lost sight of this site for a while after that. What I loved at the time were the humorous and quirky write-ups that could be found here.
My all-time favourite node is Slide, thud, whoosh, crunch, or: Catholic Rally Stage 1 Fights Back and some of it's companions from the Highway Tales. Along with one of my other long-time bookmarks these embody everything that is good to me about everything2.
This other bookmark is Uberman's Sleep Schedule. I've read this years ago, and it sparked something in me. It led me to read a lot about polyphasic sleep and I seriously considered trying it myself for a while.
What these nodes have in common is that they're both well written; they're slightly humorous and they carry you along while being mildly informative. To me this is a great combination, I like to be entertained while I'm being educated. A skill my college teachers have seldomly mastered, unfortunately, but some of E2's greatest writers do possess this talent.
From the Highway tales I have developed my absolute favourite E2 pastime. I'm not really here for the writing, I consider myself merely a decent writer, and don't want to bother other people with my ramblings too much. I'm here for other peoples writings, I love to read, and random node surfing is a great way to be entertained and informed while not having to keep your concentration for more than ten minutes.
This is the reading/surfing habit I've developed over the years: I find one or more starting nodes from the new wu's or recently cooled on the frontpage. I read these nodes and then check the top 2 or 3 rows of softlinks. These practically always contain several interesting links to other nodes, and I open them in new tabs (yay, firefox!). Each read tab is closed, automatically bringing me to the next tab in line. There's a reasonable chance that this tab is about something totally unrelated to the previous node, keeping me fresh and interested, while also allowing me to take a grander view of the world's connectedness.
I hope this may inspire you to enjoy some hours getting entertained and slightly educated on E2.
What on earth would possess a mature person with a modicum of intelligence to sit at a computer for hours at a time reading and writing (astoundingly, absent any financial compensation!) when there're things to be done. Important things. Things like:
Well, I'll tell you. It's addictive. There's some sort of chemical or high-technology signal sent out by the website that defies the laws of physics.
How often have I heard my significant other cry out, "Honey, are you on that damned computer again!" She now has a support group of Internet widows she chats with regularly. Not unlike a member of Al-Anon, she no longer looks on helplessly, crying out for attention, but rather has learned to "detach with love."
Suffice it to say I expect a State Marshal to knock upon my door any day now and serve me with the documents every married person fears like the Plague.
So many of the thankless whelps who populate the site are so tremendously smarter than I, I now have a significant inferiority complex. I mean, I feel intellectually small in the presence of people who are capable of having a technical conversation with Stephen Hawking.
This site has also warped my view of politics. My friends have forsaken me because my Conservative views have given way to a more Liberal mode of thinking. I've even considered voting Democrat in the November election (Heaven forbid!)
I can no longer stare into a store window display or otherwise sight-see without my train of thought being interrupted by a voice in my head whispering, "That'd be teh nodeshell!"
Misspellings, typos, poor grammar and other errata in books, magazines and other printed materials now stand out to me and make me as uncomfortable as would a big red zit on my nose the morning of an important business meeting. When asked to say a little about myself at a business networking reception, I refused and asserted that I didn't want to engage in "GTKY-speak."
Since being doomed to endless toil at the computer screen, my once-healthy diet now consists of junk food snacks and copious amounts of coffee. Despite the coffee, I occasionally fall into a blissful sleep, only to have nightmares about my writeups being nuked. When I awake with a start, in a cold sweat, I'm once again faced by the computer. It may be displaying a screen saver at the moment, but the instant I touch the mouse, E2 will be there. No doubt, there'll also be a hundred or more messages in my inbox.
The others hopelessly caught in E2's gaping maw do a fine job at acting cheerful. They've even come to my emotional aid, foiling attempts to end all my suffering on not one but two occasions. E2 even followed me into my father's hospital room as he lay dying. A group of noders telephoned from a nodermeet in Great Britain at great personal expense to ask how I was doing. I mean, how annoying is that?!
Amazingly, nearly every one of the E2ers accepts me as I am, complete with opinions, faults, and insight. How can this be? How can the legions of clean-cut college students find anything in common with a fat, graying old man? They manage to, somehow.
I gotta add that I've "met" some of the loveliest people I've ever had the privilege of getting to know right here on E2. These people and this fellowship are a source of great joy for me.
So to summarize, I hate it, but am hopelessly doomed to continue the vicious cycle of reading, writing, reading, writing, reading, writing...
What an excellent question.
I just do.
Guess that doesn't cut it, though. Still I'll keep it short.
Okay... Lessee... (Leaving loving all the great nodes aside, because somehow that is implicit) I love Everything2 because I have been finding friendship, appreciation, criticism, and a feeling of belonging. Knowing that, for better or for worse, around the world noders have come to recognise my name is daunting. Knowing that I have made some wonderful friends, and many more great acquaintances makes me happy. Accepting that some noders don't like me, and learning from that experience is educating. All in all I have become enriched in so many ways from being a member, or a part, of the E2 community.
In addition to this, I have been enticed out of my self imposed Danish exile. If I wanted to meet noders outside of Denmark, I'd have to travel. In the last three years I have travelled more than I have travelled in my entire life. And the people I have met have been fascinating people, each in their own way.
E2 is an important part my life, but I don't feel it is a substitute for anything that could have been. I love it here because E2 is the place where I find good, funny, solid, silly, lovely, impressing, weird people and information, facts and 'ficts'.
I log on every day, with very, very few exeptions. I prowl the nodegel and read old nodes, correct little typos and stuff, talk to people and offer my editorial and general assistance should they need it, and try to make myself useful. I don't contribute to the nodegel as often, or as regularly as I want to, mostly due to real life issues like an ever growing work load and stress, but I am always around. I don't see myself leaving the site in any foreseeable future.
You know how MySpace would be better without the dreadful layouts, and LiveJournal would be better if more people could spell properly, and Wiki would be better if it had a soul and AOL would be better if... well, if it no longer existed?
E2 is all those things, and more. This place was one of the first sites on the web to be built on the basis of user-contributed content. Back in the last millenium - 1999 - this place was founded by a bunch of liberal-minded geeks and it's been developing ever since.
We're still pretty geeky. Still pretty liberal-minded, but nowadays there's a broader mix of people and the writing is a lot better, too.
If you've ever been in a minority, especially a disliked minority, you'll find a second home here. E2 is how the web ought to be. No matter what your background, sexuality or religion, you'll find tolerance, acceptance and welcome here. Just do us the courtesy of behaving in the same way, K?
You'll find passionate, articulate arguments in favour of all kinds of belief and lifestyle, but you won't find hate speech, either in the public or in the private areas of E2. This place doesn't work like that.
Another great thing about E2 is that it is not for everyone. You might have a hundred 'friends' on MySpace or Facebook, but this place has developed into a community of a few hundred people who come from all around the world who like to hang out together. On the whole, we like reading and writing. We're adventurous and open to new things. Some of us are pretty smart, but our smarts aren't always measured in degrees, or other formal qualifications.
Some of us travel around the world and meet up; we open our homes to these 'strangers' about whom we know nothing except their words. Invariably, we have a great time doing it.
If all your friends on Facebook are like that, congratulations! But if sometimes you think it might be good to find a place where a few hundred intelligent people, hang out; where you can chat to them, laugh, be serious and learn about each other slowly, you could do worse than try this place out.
Intrigued? Let me tell you more.
Back in the '90s the guys who set up Slashdot also set up a site called Everything. That evolved into Everything2.com, and the original E1 site closed for business. People found E2 and they fell in love with the place.
Back then, a lot of college kids were involved. And we all know what college kids want. They want to get laid. So E2 started out with guys talking about how they think and feel around girls. Seeing a desperate need among the guys, the girls wrote about how they think and feel when they see a guy.
It was fun. Not all of that survived the test of time, but that phase of E2 left us with one of the best collections of writing and advice about sexuality and dating on the web. Remember I said we're pretty liberal? Try looking at a few of these links fisting, cunt, How to give a blow job, Anal sex, cunnilingus. Some of it could be described as erotica. Others could be described as porn, and some as textbook instructions. However you want to describe it, there's not a lot like it out there on the web. You certainly won't find this stuff on AOL.
Over the years we grew up. There were weddings and couplings. The college kids moved on, got jobs, dropped out and discovered they had responsibilities. Their writing style started to change.
We started writing about getting older and babies and miscarriages We started taking notice of politics. We flirted with religion. We explored ambition. In short, we grew up. That enthusiasm translated into cars and Shakespeare; into music and cookery; into computer games and poetry. September 11, 2001 changed us all.
We still get our share of the college kids. You can see their mouths drop open - figuratively speaking - when they see what we wrote about sex back in the day, and then they stop short when they see some of the stuff we publish today. Some lurk. Some stay and contribute. Others find it all so distasteful they run off screaming.
We get our share of trolls too. The simple ones quickly get bored but we like to keep some of the better ones, just to remind ourselves not to take things too seriously.
If I tell you the very best thing I love about E2, that won't be the very best thing you love about E2 and it won't be the very best thing another person loves about this place.
My very best thing about E2 is that it's a slow way of getting to know people. Weird people; strange people; exciting people.
Most of these people you'd never get to meet in your daily life. Or if you did, you'd never know how exciting they are. We all generate shells that are supposed to protect ourselves from the outside world. Like the rest of the web, E2 has a level of anonymity afforded by user nicks and the interweb.
You know what? Almost all of us share our real names and our real addresses. More than that, we share intimate details of our lives. We do that, knowing our friends on E2 can be more caring and more supportive than our family or our real-world friends. Like I said, we're liberal, but that means there's not a problem or situation we've never heard of; never faced. Someone somewhere on E2 has been there and done that.
There's no rush on E2. It all works better if you take it slowly. We're all here and most of us are going to stay here for a few more years. We'll chat amongst ourselves and we'll write and the casual visitor can read as much or as little as they want.
We're still not perfect. We can still be a bit spiky to newcomers who don't RTFM. But on the whole, if you've got the time and got the patience, the people here are worth it.
Some of us still manage to use this place to get laid.
La petite mort says: Get laid? Just get laid? Married even.
Why indeed?
I'm not a great writer.
I don't seem to be able to do it as well as you.
I'm not going to be able to wow you with my expansive vocabulary.
I'm can't write anything so achingly beautiful it's going to bring tears to your eyes.
I'm actually sorry because when I first started here, 7 years ago, that's what I wanted to do. So why?
Why should I while away my time reading and writing in this place where, after seven years of observation and the occasional urge to write something, I still exist, largely in a state of anonymity? The people here, most of you don't know who I am. You wouldn't recognize me if you saw me on the street and the same is true of me. I wouldn't know a GhettoAardvark, from a IWhoSawTheFace, from a Demeter, so why the hell, after 7 years, am I still here?
You see, for years to me this place was almost imaginary in it's nature. I'm not good at this whole internet communication thing, whatever it is. If you've know me well then you know I do my best communicating face to face, mostly with my eyes, and with my hands. I do my less articulate and intelligent communicating with my voice and my least effective communicating with a keyboard. To me this place was just a room full of Ether, something so alien and foreign to me as to be unreal. I came here to read and saw so many beautiful and useful things. This place has been invaluable in my transition from boy to man.
None of this amounts to anything...
Those things are only pretty nothings. They have nothing do with what is here that I love, or why I love what I do about this place. The fact that this website taught me how to be a better writer, or a faster reader, or even helped me hone my skills as a lover isn't what keeps me hitting that 'login' or that 'stubmit' button.
So why then do I love E2?
I love E2 because panting in the sunset because, I chased the Frisbee too far too many times is the best way to start an evening of drinking.
Because I left my soul there, down by the sea.
Because you watched movies with me in my office.
Because I loved watching a half naked Godzilla destroy that plane because it had the audacity to smash into his frontal noggin!
Because nothing, not even Gandalf can beat a two foot tall marshmallow and chocolate covered Balrog, complete with whip!
Because there and back again is always over too damn soon.
Because when I finally get a chance to meet you I will take your hand and smile much warmer than I would for any other new acquaintance.
Because when you leave at the end of the weekend I won't have to settle for a handshake, chances are we'll be hugging.
Because STARLINER RULES ALL! at least in Ohio
Because I love you, you, you, you, you, you, most certainly you, and oh fine, you too.
Because you kissed me on the cheek, hugged me, and told me goodbye in a way that made me know it wasn't really ever going to be goodbye.
Because I love Karrin Allyson.
Because Bart actually got me drunk enough to slam.
Because I love far too many, and not nearly enough of you.
Because /me misses sensei and Hermetic, even though I never had the pleasure.
Because when my wife was in pain, many of you showed your support, love, and kindness.
Because E2 is people and people with which to share our joys, our passions, our loves, and even our unspeakable pains is all any of us ever really needs.
Because in the end we are Everything 2...
And because if you don't love Everything2, we'll kill you.
No, no, not joking. Here, look.
Pardon me, sir. Do you love Everything2?
"What are you talking about? I've never heard of OH GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? STOP IT PLEASE, I NEED THAT TO LIVE! OH GOD, MY SPINE, MY SPIIIIINE!" (gurgle splotch thud)
See? Love us, or we will kill you hard and bloody.
We don't even have to get our own hands dirty. Watch this.
Excuse me, sir. Have you enjoyed your E2 experience today?
"Not in the least! This site doesn't contain the up-to-the-minute investment info I need! Good day, sir!"
"HOLD, HUMAN!"
"Wh-What the hell is -- ?"
"YOU SEEK TO DISRESPECT EVERYTHING2? YOU SEEK ULTIMATE PAIN AND ETERNAL DESTRUCTION?"
"Good Lord, what is that thing?!"
"COME AND TEST YOUR METTLE AGAINST KLONKOR, THE BEAST THAT EATS EYES!"
"Let go of me! Let go of me! Oh God!"
"SILENCE, FOOL! SILENCE WHILE KLONKOR FEASTS!"
Splurtchh!
(incoherent shrieks)
"AHH, SWEET, SQUISHY EYES! SO DELICIOUS! ARE YOU HIDING EXTRA EYES, HUMAN? KLONKOR WILL SEEK THEM!"
Skkrikk-k-k-Sphlaatchh!
"NOTHING INSIDE THE SKULL? PERHAPS THE CHEST CAVITY..."
Thanks, Klonkor, great work. Look carefully in there -- you never know when they'll hide an eye behind a spleen or something...
So remember, E2 newbies, love us for our eloquence, for our knowledge, for our understanding and humor and imagination. Or just love us because you fear pain and death. It's all the same to us, really.
(you have 1243 private messages)
says I saw a werewolf drinking a Pina colada at Trader Vics.. His hair was Perfect.
says well there is Up against the wall and then there is Here's a wall - here's you, here's me - notimelikethepresent- two different things
says re Electrolyte imbalance: For the moment, this is your best - tough stuff, written with a light, sympathetic hand. Congratulations! But I see a lot more coming ... And some of the fiction is most endearing. Do I sound patronising? Well, I certainly don't want to. But I DO like your writing, so I have the right of ... whatever.
says Oh no, I didn't think you were cruel at all. Besides, most physicists are harmless. The worst we came up with was the atomic bomb
