Many have asked but few have been able to produce even a partial answer to our most fundamental question: What is Everything2? Most of the ideas that get bandied about focus more on what E2 is not. E2 has movie reviews, but it is not the Internet Movie Database. E2 has factual articles written by volunteers, but it is not Wikipedia. E2 has fiction, non-fiction, humor, and drama, but it isn't a place to drop off your work just to get reviews and encouragement. It's not a journal, it's not a BBS, and it's not a place to hang out and chat, although it seems like it sometimes.
What Everything2 is, is a writers' site. But that definition in itself is pretty meaningless. There are many writers' sites on the internet and most of them have very little in common. Some have no standards for submission. Others only accept a certain genre or specialize in a general type of writing, such as creative writing or fan fiction or pornography. Conversely, everything except fan fiction can be found here and even that is mostly because of "fair use" guidelines and the difficulty in tracking it down to remove it if, say, Anne Rice decides she doesn't want anybody doing that.
I've come to realize that Everything2 can be best defined as a place to improve your skills as a writer. You are free to write just about anything you want here, but what you do write must be good, and if you're using the site correctly you will get better the more you use it. That's really what this whole place has been engineered for. The votes, the C!s the feedback, the editors, all of it can only be centered around one purpose: to make you a better writer regardless of your chosen genre. That's why E2 can be everything. More than that, E2 is the some of the best of everything.
When I found this place I thought it was a user-written encyclopedia. I used it to look up information and was surprised at what E2 did and did not cover already. I joined to add my knowledge of electronics and engineering. And I did, but E2 has given me much more in return. I just didn't realize that was the point at the time.
Since those early days I've become focused on XP and level and merit. These things are all well and good but what they are intended for is to reward you for improving. I haven't been improving lately. I've been missing the point. I've stagnated as a writer in an effort to maintain my merit, playing to my strengths and avoiding my weaknesses. As a result I haven't been getting much in the way of feedback. Oh sure I've gotten votes and C!s and the occasional "Good job!", but I haven't been getting any constructive criticism.
I am embarrassed about that. It means I haven't been taking enough chances. I've been afraid of losing my merit. All a high merit means is that you've gotten good at what you've been doing. It's time to try something else.
If you don't think E2 has any more to teach you then you're finished here. Go publish something if you're so good. We'll get to say "we knew him when" and raise a glass to you at the next nodermeet. Just leave behind your body of work for us to enjoy so we can show the new users "This is how to play the game, son."
In the mean time, the rest of us should be taking chances, doing things we haven't done before, trying out new techniques and new voices, expanding into genres we haven't written in before. Lie. Tell the truth. Make up the parts you forgot to fill in the gaps in the story. Learn something new and share it with the rest of us.
E2 will benefit from your work, but that's a side effect. The main idea is that you've gotten better at doing it.
Are you doing your part? Do you send feedback messages, even just to say "good work"? Do you vote? Do you give out your C!s? Do you participate?
Take a chance. It won't hurt. I promise.