1. What is your name?Around these parts I am
known as
anthropod. I made that word up. Not really sure what I was
thinking – I was trained as an anthropologist, so that’s the anthro
part, but what’s the “pod” about? Foot? Seed? No idea.
I have a different name IRL.
2.
Tell us something about you, your background, and what you've been up
to lately? How did you discover Everything, and how did you become a
noder?When I came here I was a PhD student, writing my
thesis. I was immersed in researching and writing in those days. I
stumbled across E2 via Google, searching out information on sex tourism
as I recall, and was somewhat appalled with the brevity and inaccuracy
of what I found here. A few weeks later I came back and posted a few
small things from my thesis. Dear
gritchka encouraged me to post more,
and post unhidden, so people could see what I was contributing – I
didn’t really understand how the site worked at first.
I’ve
always liked writing and though at the start I mostly
wrote about what I knew, with time I would plunge into
some
totally new territory to fill a hole in the database. I learned a lot of
things when I was an avid noder – many of which I have since forgotten. I
still find old write-ups of mine that I have no memory of having
written.
Of course, the positive feedback in the form of upvotes and !Cs was nice too. That kept me going for a long time.
I was never a socializer, always hated the catbox, but I had a few “friends” who I would privately chat with sometimes.
After some years, life just took me away. I live elsewhere now.
3. What are your favorite and least favorite memories from E2's history?I
really liked helping other noders, especially once I was an admin. I
read a lot of different things and would sometimes make suggestions to
people on how to improve their writing. That was rewarding.
Although
I was pretty peripheral to the social aspects of e2, I was very touched
by the strong community feeling that emerged after the death of
hermetic.
I hated the politics and in-fighting. Mostly I was
oblivious to it, but occasionally it would become so loud that even I
could not ignore it.
It always astonishes me how much time and effort people invest in negative interactions. I don’t want to put my energy there.
4. What do you hope for E2's future?I
think there must be a way for E2 to evolve as information technology
has been evolving. The internet has come so far since E2’s early days,
but E2 hasn’t nearly kept pace with change. I would like to see a real
transformation that would bring E2 into the present.
5. What does E2 mean to you?E2
is like the favourite dress I had when I was a girl. I look back at the
pictures of me in that dress and I remember how much I loved it, how
happy I was when I was wearing it – it made a special occasion seem even
more special – but the dress is long gone now. Even if I still had it,
it wouldn’t fit me any more, and it would be hopelessly out of date. I
still look at those photos with great fondness, though.
Everything2 Decaversary Interviews
If you have questions or comments, please contact anthropod or Jet-Poop.