Welcome to Everything2! We always recommend that new users browse the site for a while to get a feel for it before contributing — read a bunch of stuff, follow some interesting-looking soft links, maybe send some feedback to some of the authors. This page covers the basics of posting to E2, once you've got some idea of what the site's about. The most important thing to remember is that Everything2 gives your audience the power to tell you what they think of your writing by way of the vote — it's a good idea to know what works here and what doesn't before getting started. Master the stuff below and you won't have any problems.
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Before adding anything to the site...
Ask yourself: will others find what I want to say interesting?
Whatever you do end up writing about, tell us a fair bit about it. One line isn't enough - we'd like to know more! Don't assume the reader knows everything you know, as your readers may not be your age, have your educational background, or live in your country; give them background, give them detail.
Avoid writing about Everything2 itself, at least at first. Your audience already knows a lot about E2, so it's hard to impress them that way.
Run a quick search (from the search box at the top of each page) about your chosen topic.
Always do a search to see if there is an existing title (we call them "nodes") under which you can add writeups. If there is no node about your chosen topic yet, the "findings" page will allow you to create a new one. You might like to look at some related topics before you start writing. See How do I submit a writeup of my own? for the details.
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E2 uses HTML formatting.
Formatting on E2, as on the web in general, is done using HTML, a fairly simple markup language. You don't necessarily need to worry about this - you may be quite happy with no formatting in your writeups besides paragraph breaks, and E2 will take care of that for you. For more than that, you should see a toolbar at the top of the writeup submission box, to add common formatting. For instance, to emphasise a word or phrase in your work, select it and hit the i button; you will see tags appear around it, like this - <em>this</em> - and it will show up looking like this when you submit it. Alternatively, you can turn on a 'What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get' (WYSIWYG) writeup editor, which you can use like a word processor. It isn't very hard to learn the basics of HTML, and you might find it worthwhile to have a look at E2 HTML Tags even if you prefer the immediacy of the WYSIWYG editor.
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It's easy: just put [square bracket]s around words and phrases. You should link pretty much anything that someone else might want to read about after they read your writeup. People, places, technical terms, ideas, relevant stories — you name it. Pipe links allow you to get more creative with links by linking to one think and displaying another, like this: [link this|display this]. This can be used to simply link to a different form of a given word or phrase, or to add another whole layer of meaning to the text. Our internal links are a distinctive part of the culture of E2.
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Spelling and grammar count.
Everyone makes mistakes, so it's a very good idea to run your piece through a spellchecker before hitting that "Submit" button. E2 is a community of writers and readers, and we really notice these things. You are likely to get friendly private messages pointing out occasional mistakes in your work. Please don't get defensive, they're trying to help!
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Use Scratch Pads to draft your stuff before posting it.
Scratch Pads are editing areas that allow you to see what your writeup will look like before you post it. Hit 'Save to Scratch Pad' at the bottom of a writeup submission box to save a preview, or use the 'Scratch Pads' link in the Epicenter nodelet.
By default, your Scratch Pads are private. If you uncheck the "Private" checkbox at the top, other people can see it. This allows you to share your draft with other users before you post.
The preferred way to ask for opinions is to send a private message to someone, asking them to check out your Scratch Pad. To send a private message, type /msg in the Chatterbox nodelet, followed by the user's nickname, and then your message:
/msg someuser Hey, what's going on? Would you mind taking a look at what's on my default Scratch Pad?
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You can edit writeups you've already submitted.
Just go back to the link where you posted your writeup (a quick search should find it) and scroll down to the textbox near the bottom: you'll find your words waiting for you. Change whatever you'd like and click Submit once again, and your writeup will be updated.
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Getting more help:
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Ask in the Chatterbox.
Using the Chatterbox nodelet is probably the best way to get help and advice with E2. We have lots of helpful staff (the ones with "$" or "@" next to their name in the Other Users nodelet), but most of our regular members will also be glad to answer most questions you have about how to do stuff.
If you want to talk to someone directly, you can just send them a private /msg (above).
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Everything2 Help is the definitive resource for answering any questions you have about the many features and facets of Everything2. If you want more detailed info on writing, voting, editing, or any other topic, Everything2 Help is the best place to find your answer.
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Get one-on-one help and advice from an experienced user.
If you want to have a trusted pair of eyes to look over your work before it's sent out into the world, or are finding the culture and jargon of E2 hard to get into, or you just want an E2 buddy, you can ask for what we call a "mentor". This will be an experienced user who has specifically volunteered for the task (so you're not imposing on anyone!) and who will be happy to help you out and proud of your subsequent achievements. You can keep this relationship going for as long or short a time as you feel you need it - the power is all in your hands, your mentor is here to help you.
See Everything2 Mentor System for more information.