Today, in the course of my redactorial duties, I killed all the writeups in two nodes. Most recently--this is the non-controversial one--both entries in Useful Spanish Phrases because my good friend taschenrechner, who speaks more or less fluent Spanish, informed me that they were, well, um, useless. And, looking at them, I had to say I agreed with him--"Donde esta Taco Bell?" Please.
On to deeper waters. This morning, after a leisurely bath, I got online to get my daily dose of e-mail and E2, and also to download the Linux 2.4.3 kernel. I noticed a node entitled I don't want you to feel guilty, I just want you to stop eating meat. For those of you who missed it, the title pretty much summed up the idea of the first writeup. For the record, I like meat, and I eat lots of it. By the same token, for a small time, I lived in a monastic environment in which we ate no meat--but more for the denial of fleshly desires than any interest in the bad effect on the body, or cruelty to animals raised for the purpose of sale as meat. I read every writeup there at the time, and I came to a decision: This node must die. Then I ran off to work. Evidently, though, I fucked up and forgot to mark the very first writeup. Sorry about that. Looks like dannye took care of it, though.
I have received criticism for my action from certain quarters, and so I'd like to document my reasoning. To those who wrote followups, I extend my gratitude for for not making a flame war out of the whole thing. Every writeup that I read, including the first one, was well thought out and cogently presented. I should hope to expect no less from my E2 cohorts, which is why I mercykilled all of them rather than charging -5 XP. But the fact of the matter is this: GTKY nodes fucking suck. Granted, the GTKY aspect of this node was a little more subtle than the late and unlamented What do you say after sex? that I myself started what seems like ages ago. But a listing of "Well, this is what I think," "Well, you're wrong; this is what I think," etc., is not what E2 is about--although, I'd be the first to admit that it's difficult to say exactly what E2 is about--no matter how well presented. My concern also with the followups was that they were just that--followups. This is not a forum. This is not a coffehouse or a bar, in which to endlessly argue all the things that are wrong with the world and how to fix them. Neither is this a pulpit, nor a dais on which to hold a debate.
Write what you know. And Node for the Ages, dammit.