We take all sorts here.
A casual glance at the site will reveal a large subset
of contributions relevant to young people based in North America. This
is not a result of any deliberate policy, but rather a reflection of
the demographics of the internet.
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is an English
dialect.
Dig deeper and you will find material relevant to every point of
view and perspective you can imagine. Although the dominant language
is American English, large slices of the material are written in
British, Australian and other English dialects. There is no official site preference for American dialect or spelling. In addition, there are some contributions in other languages, but these are relatively rare.
Using languages other than English on Everything2
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item uses HTML.
If you want to post something, then you need to know at least the most basic hypertext mark-up codes, or use a text editor which inserts them for you. A basic editor is available if you go to Writeup Settings and check the box labeled "Use TinyMCE WYSIWYG content editor to Edit writeups."
E2 HTML Tags : Quick Start
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item is well-written and uses HTML.
Members of the Everything2 receive feedback in the form of "reputation", a number assigned to a writeup based on + or - votes by members. "Reputation" tends to be a measure of popularity rather than quality.
In some cases, a negative "reputation" expresses the members' opinion that the writeup has violated the rules and conventions of the site. A typical (and easily avoided) cause of a negative reputation for writeups is failure to use
hard links or minimal HTML formatting. Beyond that, the question concerning what is "acceptable" or well-written becomes more subtle and difficult to answer.
The site is managed by an ad hoc team of people--the administrators--who work independently within a
fabric of guidelines. These people are unpaid. Administrators are selected on the basis of their writing ability and their overall contribution to the site over an extended period. Their over-riding aim is to encourage good writing. In addition, however, each administrator has a responsibility to
remove material that he or she thinks is not up to standard. There is
no clear standard of what is acceptable and what is not.
Deleted Writeups
"Censorship" and "Suggestions"
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item is well-written, with good spelling, grammar and HTML.
There is universal agreement among the administration team that
spelling and grammar are important. That is not to say we would reject
the works of James Joyce on the grounds of poor punctuation, or E.E.
Cummings on his unconventional capitalization. We firmly believe that
spelling and grammar are important, yet we do understand that on rare
occasions, a literary piece may need to break the conventional rules in
order to make its point most effectively.
Capitalization in Writeups
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item is well-written, with good spelling, grammar, and HTML, but it
helps if the author is open to constructive criticism.
Beyond the efforts of individual administrators, there is also a very active social structure here, with all members able to send messages to all other members relating either to written contributions, or to other matters.
Furthermore, all members (so long as they have made a small number of contributions) can vote on the work submitted by other members. This voting activity, supplemented by some supervotes available to more senior members of the community, has created a very active and responsive feedback system for our authors.
The site has been designed to encourage the use of these votes and other forms of feedback. Thus, all contributors get immediate feedback on their efforts. One significant aspect of this feedback is that it comes from a huge cross-section of people, most of whom are interested in good writing and many of whom will have quite different cultural and ideological backgrounds from the author's real-life acquaintances. Many users find this feedback a very helpful tool in preparing their own writing for other audiences.
Chatterbox
Voting/Experience System
Everything2 Mentor System
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item is well-written, with good spelling, grammar, and HTML, but it
helps if the author is open to constructive criticism, and able to make
connections between related topics and ideas.
There is no policy--either official or unofficial--on what type of
material is favored here. We have some extraordinary writers on this
site. They choose what to write and how to write it. Much of the most
highly praised material defies categorization in traditional genres,
but diaries, biographies, polemics, short stories, encyclopaedic
explanations, aphorisms, recipes, well-thought out opinions and pieces
which capture the zeitgeist are all well-represented here.
In addition, there is something of an internal culture on the site,
relating to how such contributions should be presented. One of the most
important of these is the concept of linking ideas and knowledge. The
site developers have included a range of tools which
allow authors to link their own contributions to others across the
site. This ability to link in intelligent and creative ways is one of
the unique aspects of the Everything2 site.
Integrating your writeups with other writeups on Everything2
Links on Everything2
We take all sorts here, so long as the language is English, and
the item is original, or out of copyright, well-written, with good
spelling, grammar, and HTML, but it helps if the author is open to
constructive criticism, and able to make connections between related
topics and ideas.
A final note concerns copyright. This site is essentially a
publishing house. As a publisher, we take the ownership of copyright
and the rights of the copyright holder very seriously. Although
individual authors are able to post anything on our site, we, the administration, give clear notice
that anything which breaches copyright, or infringes the rights of
copyright owners may be deleted without warning. Any original works submitted to Everything2 by users remains copyrighted to the author, with all rights reserved. Everything2 does not "own" your work on Everything2. We're cool like that.
How to cite your sources on Everything2
Everything2 Copyright FAQ and advice on Fair Use
Adding Public Domain Materials to Everything2
back to
Everything2 Help