Contrary to popular belief, Noding for Numbers is not automatically a Bad Thing. Noding projects are an essential part of what makes Everything2's database useful to everyone. Many nodeworthy subjects are simply too massive to be confined to one writeup, while others are better off being broken up into many nodes so that they can be searched individually.
The trick to successful NFN, if there is a "trick" to it, is to do it in such a way that it conforms to E2's normal standards for quality noding. Posting a large number of individually-worthwhile nodes is considered valuable here. Posting as many quick-and-dirty writeups as you can without putting any effort into them is not.
If you're looking to create a few dozen or a few hundred closely related nodes, then, try to remember the following tips--not just for the sake of your own XP, but for the general edification of the database.
Don't just node stuff that's already common knowledge, or that no one who didn't live your life will be interested in. Pick a subject that will interest the reader, something that will draw most people to say "That was a really worthwhile effort," and a few to spend an hour or two exploring your entire metanode.
- Bad: Obscure Garage Bands from My Home Town
- Good: England's Number One Songs and Why They Were Hits
E2 rarely appreciates writeups that are nothing more than cut-and-paste content from other sources, especially as part of a project. Writeups which are nothing more than identically-formatted cut-and-pasted text will be voted down at least as often as they are voted up. But when you append a few of your own original thoughts to those writeups, or combine information from other sources, you're making a contribution.
- Bad: Band Lyrics I Copied Blandly from the Liner Notes
- Good: Well-Formatted Lyrics, How The Song Sounds, and What They Mean
The most hated NFN projects on E2 (read: vote dumps) are built from list after list of bland, uninteresting statistics. These are bad because they prove you put little original thought into them, but even worse, they provide little or no context for the information. You have full use of the English language at your command for every writeup you create; use it to make yourself clear.
- Bad: Boring Numerical Properties of the Atomic Elements
- Good: The Elements and How They Were Discovered
If every single node title in your project is an obscure string of words and numbers that no one would ever hardlink or search for, you should rethink your titling scheme. Titles that people are likely to come across casually or by chance will increase the "interestingness" of your project as well as the sheer number of upvoters over time.
- Bad: 1989 Pontiac Trans Am Limited Edition (Metallic Navy Blue)
- Good: Trans Am
If you're going to be creating a lot of nodes at a time, it's common courtesy not to flood the New Writeups nodelet with half a dozen writeups on the same topic. (Besides, annoyed noders tend to downvote by reflex.) Either check that box or space your writeups far enough apart that no more than three are displayed at a time.
- Bad: Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Hastings, Battle of Ingersol, Battle of the Bulge, Battle of This, Battle of That...
- Good: Battle of Gettysburg
There's few things more annoying than when a noder begins a noble and comprehensive metanode and stops halfway through, leaving the reader hanging on an eight-month-old promise of "more to come". If you're determined to Node for Numbers, be comprehensive. If you create a project which will need to be updated in the future, leave it open at the end in case you're not around to complete it next year.
- Bad: Academy Award Winners Up Through 1978
- Good: Academy Award Winners with Hardlinks Deliberately Left for Next Year's Results
And, of course, the usual guidelines as spelled out in Everything University apply to your writeups themselves.
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