Let us say, for just one moment, that E2 is in fact Unfriendly to New Noders. So what? What if I completely grant that dannye, tem42, gamaliel, and mat catastrophe (to choose the first four noders currently on Other Users) do, in fact, resent, nay, despise you simply for being new. So what?

You are presented with two paths after this revelation (barring whining about it... oh. wait.) The first is fairly simple - leave. Start your own collective database. While that may not seem a very fair thing for me to say, that's the point - it doesn't have to be. This isn't the US of A. There is no Constitution or Bill of Rights. And there is certainly no Noding with the consent of the Noders. We, every single one of us, are here because we have consented to put up with a certain amount of bullshit (or what some of us perceive as such). But righteously claiming to be confronting Dem Bones with the truth about his totalitarian regime is tantamount to complaining that nuking your node on why Bill Clinton is a dunderhead is censorship - even if it were, it doesn't matter. Censorship isn't illegal here, Bones makes the rules.

Or you could keep going. You could keep going and maybe some day become a higher-up. You could, as knifegirl has already so graciously suggested, make E2 a better place. This isn't, to me, about earning one's bullshit. It's about realizing that the bullshit doesn't give two shits about you, one way or another.

Because I've got news for you - E2 wouldn't blink an eye if you, or I, or the vast majority of noders here, left and never came back. Take that as you will.

E2 is a bunch of people, and people are weird. This really and truly is how people are. Trying to describe E2 as more than a just a lot of people (For Example, "Unfriendly People", "Smart People", or "People Who Like Lesbians and Soy") is doomed to failure.

People is just people, and you gotta deal with them.

<rant type="near-incoherent">

"WAAH WAAH WAAH! SOMEONE DIDN'T LIKE MY NODE! THIS PLACE IS FULL OF MEANIES AND POOPHEADS! WAAAAH!"

If I hear one more person whining about how E2 is Unfriendly to New Noders and E2 is elitist and E2 killed my dog, and I don't think it's fair, I myself will personally find a way to create an army of flesh-eating zombies and train them to bitchslap every man, woman, and child on God's GREEN BUTTHUMPING CROTCHSNIFFING EARTH and shriek the following phrase over and over at the top of their foul, rotting lungs:

DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN
urrgghghh, brains...

There are enough people out there that no matter what you do, someone will hate it. That's right. Someone, somewhere, hates your guts. And you know what? There isn't a goddamn thing you can do about it. By whining, YOU LOSE. Game over. The bastards win. You are at their mercy.

Your only recourse is to ignore the few voices that speak nothing but malice, poison and fear. Toughen up and node. Listen to the whispers of the other hundreds of people who say "I kinda like this."

"But, but, what about my nodes? They get all these downvotes, nobody likes my story about a poop I named Jimmy. It's because the editors are hypocrites and they're out to get me. Maybe I should start checking that "Do not display in New Writeups" box so they won't see them."

NO! NO! YOU FUCKING IMBECILE! NO! NO!

What you are doing is wrong and cowardly and stupid. Just because nobody sees your node, that does not mean it is not a big, steaming hunk of SHIT. Burying your shit does not make you a better noder - it makes you a pussy (like a kitty. they bury their poop. get it?) I have a special zombie for you - he screams:

IF YOUR NODES ARE GETTING NUKED, MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE WRITING SHITTY NODES
urrghh, brainnnss...

Maybe you should channel all this energy that you are putting into your incessant whining into improving your writing. Maybe you should learn how to link. Maybe you should learn some HTML. Maybe you should learn how to express a coherent fucking thought without drooling on yourself before blaming the evil baby-eating editors who are out to get YOU and just YOU.

Now go node or fuck off.

</rant>

As long as you come in not expecting a welcome, e2 is not entirely "unfriendly". As long as you approach it in the same manner you'd go to, oh, a slightly classy club you'd heard of. A place that wasn't just any old joint but a certain type of people with a certain type of interest gathered there, and some had been gathering there for forever. And you're just sticking your head in out of curiosity.

in a setting such as this, the intelligent thing is *not* to scream to be heard and demand instantly that you become the center of attention because you are god's gift to mankind. it's fine and good to wander in, have a drink, see what it's all about and just kind of watch the people mill about a while. you have the basic right to be there and *watch* at least, and perhaps later on mill about yourself, beginning to mingle with those who'll let you. (yes, there *will* be hardheads who give the "i remember when..."'s and will refuse to take you seriously till you've proven yourself. such is humanity. but more than likely, unless you're a little prick about being ignored and treated poorly, there will be some who'll be happy to talk to you as you wander by.

on the same line of logic, you walk into a club like this, you don't go up to the person nearest you and start telling them the intimate details of how you're in this bizarre situation where you're about to lose your lease and your job and your dog has measles and everything else. they won't really want to hear it. and again, in a "classier" place like that, you probably shouldn't go up to people and start telling them intimate stories about your sex life, or how distraught you are your lover of three decades is leaving you. sure, if the conversation *goes* there it's quite alright. but you very rarely *start* it there, or you shouldn't. it's safer to start talking "fact", about the weather or the local sports team, or some current event, or even what you're drinking if it's unusual and someone asks about it.

and again, in such a place. if you wander in and stay, fine. if you wander out and never come back... *shrugs* there's enough people through there, and enough people who are established and staying, the 'loss' of one more new face is more the norm than the exception. it's barely noticed at all.

as long as you don't dare presume E2 owes you anything, as long as you sit and try to grok it, as long as you treat it and its people properly, it's not hostile. may take a while to warm up to you and your writings. but if you behave decently and contribute usefully, it's not out to get you.

I purposely held off putting anything in hopes that I would 'simmer down' and get over it. But I haven't. Eh, life sucks.

I've read everything in this node over and over again, and there seems to be two forces at work: New noders who feel they are not being given a chance, and ancient noders resent the implication. Both factions make good points, but..

The new noder posts are operating on a very dangerous assumption: E2 is fair.

E2 is Unfriendly to Everyone. Deal.

Whomever thought of that concept that Everything2 is somehow impartial and fair should be slapped.

Everthing2, as a system of code, is completely unbiased. Perl does not care who you are. It gives less than a shit about your feelings. It just does it job.

Code, however, is where E2's freedom-from-bias ends.

The human side of E2, the noders, are full of the same cliques and in-crowds that everywhere else is -- only in this case, it's all about electrons. It's a common misconception that, somehow, the internet will cure all bias.

Even though it's popularity has soared, the main voting strata of E2 are still 16-25 year old computer geeks who love hearing about sex. Why is that wrong? Are people wrong for being amused by things you don't like? When did we get morality police?

The voting system of E2, at it's very core, states that votes should be cast on the merit of the writing, not the view. Substance over superficiality. However, it rarely works that way -- people have a habit of voting on content. It's the way people are. It takes noders a long time to get over this idea -- the idea that it's okay to vote up a well-written node even if you don't agree with it's content. And, often, noders will not get over this bias until they have spend a long time here, and have a vested interest in the database.

And so, I ask you, why do all the new noders assume it's the M-Noders and old users voting them down? It's been my experience that it is, in fact, new noders themselves who ignore well written treatises and Ching! stuff about Vibrators.

Perhaps it is the new noders who are being unfair to themselves?

It's one thing to say that this place if hard to get situated into. We all say that. Jesse Owens felt the same way about the Olympics. However, it's simply a cop out to say that "it's too difficult, so I won't try."

Don't you think that most users have gone through the same thing you have? With the exception noders who are pre-1999, Every noder has gone through the same thing. You're selling yourselves and us short if you think otherwise. E2 was never a bed of roses.

As a closing, I'd like as a question to whose critical of E2:

What do you want us to do about it?

...that is the only problem I have with the writeups here (besides the M-Noders spazzing out, that is). A lot of them complain and bitch and moan, but none of them give any solutions. It's all muck-raking with no ideas. Including this.

In closing, I'd like to tell the general nodership to not take anything in this node to seriously -- most noders have the good sense to realize what's going on the not have to resort to flame wars. It's only a users who lack a sense of restraint and soul (like myself) who get embroiled in things like this.

You came in late.

All the funny jokes have been told, all the hot topics discussed. All the good wine tasted, and the hors d'oeuvres had.

All the pretty girls have been compared to the moon and the stars have already been promised to them. All the single women have been offered company, and a lot of them accepted.

All the hurt and sorrow and suffering in the world has been expressed. The birth, life, loss, laughter, pain, death, reincarnation, God, devil, fairies, birds, elephants, temples, bindi, wars, sex techniques, relationships, white hair, prostitution, internet, liquor laws, Windows, XPs, Jesus, TV, coffee, weather, New York City and hills have been talked about. Camera techniques shared, fishing discussed, gardening explained. All the wisdom imparted.

You should know this (And this, by the way, is also true for 'life').

But also know that there are still compliments the girls here will blush at. There are still tears waiting to be shed, laughter to be had, beauty to be praised. There are still (we hope) hidden under your fingers, the words that no one here has seen before. There might still be a joke no one here has heard before, still a stone no one turned.

There are still Cookies to be had, hands to be shaken, ideas to juggle, knowledge to share, amazements to be expressed, magic to be mesmerized by.

There are still dances left to be had, moonlights left to bathe in, and night skies to watch.

Welcome to Everything. We were all perhaps waiting for you. Show us what you're capable of ...

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