Archived E2 FAQ: "Censorship" and "Suggestions"
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This document is not current, and is kept only for archival purposes. Please refer to Everything2 Help for all up-do-date help documents.
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Censorship?
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Q: Why can editors delete something I wrote on
E2?
A:
E2 is fundamentally a database publishing house. Look at
it this way: When you click "submit" that is exactly
what you are doing. You are submitting your text
to the voting discretion of thousands of people and to the editorial discretion of a few dozen. Some work is not deemed acceptable to publish and
E2 simply chooses not to publish it. It is not meant as a
personal insult to you nor should it concern you greatly -
your text is recoverable via Node Heaven. Anytime a writeup is deleted the author will get a message from Klaproth explaining why and possibly suggesting improvements for a reposting. If you did not get this msg please contact any editor and have them look into it. If you didn't understand the msg please ask an editor to explain.
The editorial staff was put together and is administrated by dem bones. You can see E2 FAQ: Klaproth for the details of deletions and feel free to message bones or any editor with questions about deletions or anything else.
Q: How am I supposed to know what's 'acceptable' and what isn't?
A: There is no way to draw a line in the sand and say "this is okay,
this is not". The sand gets blown around, the tide shifts.
There is no way to give an objective answer to so subjective
an issue. Basic guidelines are sketched out in Everything University
and the E2 FAQ: What not to do. After carefully
reading these texts and taking a few hours to just look around
the site you should have a pretty good idea of
what stays and what goes.
Q: Should I re-submit a writeup that got deleted?
A: If one of your writeps is removed from the
database it was likely intentional, but mistakes do occur.
Please don't resubmit your writeup without first discussing it
with a member of the editorial staff.
Doing so will usually result in the writeup getting deleted
again if there is no communication. Most of the userbase
respects the editorial decisions made here and editors are
often happy to help you re-work your writeup if it has merit.
As with most things, if you respect us we will have respect
for you. If you are honestly trying to add to the overall
quality and creativity of the database we will
help you if you need it ... this is the first priority of the editorial staff.
Please keep in mind they are all volunteers, even the owners of the website receive no money and in fact spend a great deal to keep this site open. They work here on their free time.
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Suggestions
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Q: Why don't people want to hear about my neat-o
new idea for how E2 works/should work?
A: That's a good question.
I'm glad you asked that.
E2 is an ever-evolving community. Over the years we've had
tens of thousands of users. I'd wager at least half of these
people added their two cents on how E2 should function,
what is cool about it and what isn't cool about it. Several
hundred of these users have come and not left...they are here
daily and have watched the whole story of E2 from the beginning.
Several of these several hundred are some of the most intelligent
people you will ever meet. I will give you hundred to one odds
that we've considered your idea already.
I know that sounds slighting, I know it sounds
pretentious and condescending but what can I tell you? The
numbers are with me here. That's not to say your idea is stupid,
it's quite probably not, it's just to say we've already
considered the suggestion and haven't implemented it for one
of a number of reasons, none of which we wish to discuss again.
It's the same old problem: new user, same idea = a discussion
that few want to take part in, again. Please don't
take this personally, picture yourself walking into a room
full of people that have been conversing constantly for three
years...and you bring up something that's been talked to death,
talked in circles and talked about some more. It's not your fault,
but it's not the audience's fault either.
The ideal thing for anybody with an idea to do is to check out
Suggestions for E2 or mention it, via private msg, to dem bones.
If you don't get a quick reply from dem bones it probably
means he's heard that one before and we're either working on
it or it just isn't going to happen.
Q: Why isn't Everything way, way cooler than it is now??!
A: The primary reasons that any given "good idea" hasn't yet
been implemented for Everything 2 are:
- Our Focus. Everything 2 is not the only project the Everything Development Company
is working on. Many ideas seem like good ones for
Everything 2 but you must understand that we're mainly
concentrating on core code for an
"Everything Engine"--a downloadable code that would allow
any website to be converted to and driven by E2's code.
You can see why many suggestions and ideas would apply
only to E2 and not be in the best interest
of a general code for an E2-run website such as Perl-Monks
or Bluescript.
- General coding feasibility--many ideas seem
simple in nature but quickly get quite complex and
time-consuming on the practical coding side.
- Manpower.
Quite frankly, it's easy to come up with ideas, but takes
much more effort to translate that idea into actual perl.
If you'd like to help out
by coding your idea your are welcome and thanked in advance!
Several users have contributed to the E2 code so far and have
been a great help to the site in general. Msg nate
if you've got some ideas. If you'd prefer e-mail just
send it to bones@slashdot.org
We've come a long way, baby
...and we're still moving, still evolving, slow and steady.
//\/`'`-._.-=-._.-`'`\/\\
moJoe THUNDERS:
-=]=))\\-=-//((=[=-
This is a place where you can do something truly great!
I don't just mean great as in "neat" or "spiffy", I mean great as in
"Alexander the GREAT" (you will note how spiffy is not
interchangeable with great in this instance).
ahem...
Anyhow, as I was saying, you can do something truly great and that is to better
yourself. I do not mean to imply that the MIGHTY GODS OF EVERYTHING 2
will school you on how to be a person or anything of that nature; I mean that
the diverse group of thoughtful, and discriminating users here on e2 keep the
pressure on each other to write with better grammar, spelling and
punctuation. I mean that because we all expect so much from each other,
your vocabulary grows, your sentences become more interesting and more
complex; your ideas flow more easily and you look at life with a new-found
sense of objectivity.
This is the awe with which I and many other noders view what some may see as
"just a database", and so, you may be able to empathize with why people around
here get a tad edgy about "clutter".
Some folk take offense when others imply that their latest write-up,
entitled "jenny wilkins is a cum snorting saq gobbler!!!", was anything
less than pedantic paragon of penning prowess. I can say clutter all I want
because I am a "clutterer". I can say that three lines about Jenny Wilkins
and her uncanny penchant for snorting semen while gumming scrote is crap
because IT IS CRAP.
Once people have transcended authoring complex treatises topical of the bizarre mating rituals of Jenny Wilkins and decide that they want to contribute something--be it humor, knowledge, or an objective point of view--then they not only improve themselves but end up enriching other peoples experience as well.
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