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.