So you want to quit Everything2

Whether it's because you've had enough of all those power-mad editors and their antics, you're tired of the personal attacks and backbiting that goes on in the Chatterbox, or you just don't have anything to say anymore, you have made the decision to leave E2 for good.

Well first of all, congratulations! There's a whole big, bright world out there beyond this site just waiting for an enterprising person to make their mark on it. Now is your chance to catch up on your correspondence; hook up with old friends you haven't seen in years; learn a new skill; maybe even write that novel or symphony you've been dreaming about all these years. Seriously, you'll be amazed at how much more time you have on your hands once you're no longer immersed in the nodegel.

But now that you have made the decision to go--how should you do it?

If you are leaving out of anger, frustration, or despair, you may be tempted to make a dramatic gesture to mark your departure. Some noders have /msg'd the editors en masse to announce that they are fed up. Others have written angry nodes blasting E2 and those who run and/or contribute to it. Some have even "pulled an Asamoth" and vandalized their contributions to the database.

Though it goes against every impulse you are feeling right now, please consider NOT doing this. It is akin to throwing a tantrum in the middle of a party and storming out. The reaction of those left behind (many of whom have no idea what the issue was) is often embarrassment, amusement, or contempt. Your reputation is on the line here, and I'm not talking about the kind that's measured in votes. Even if you never see these people again, it's likely that someday you will look back on your behavior and think "Good lord, whatever possessed me to make such an ass out of myself over a WEBSITE?".

The best course of action? Drop out quietly. If there are people you want to keep in touch with, privately let them know of your decision and how they can reach you. If the cause of your leaving is an issue the editors or gods should be made aware of, send a brief message to dem bones explaining in a calm, rational manner what your beef was. If the gods are the problem and you have already made your feelings about the issue clear, remember that the more time you spend engaged in arguments you can't win, the longer you are stuck here on E2.

And you don't want to be on E2 anymore.

So get out of here already, you knucklehead!

I was considering leaving the database for about six weeks, I had become literally sick (strep throat,) and tired (work related fatigue,) and the last thing I wanted to deal with was a bunch of goons who have nothing better to do with their time than screw with other people. I went so far as to publicly proclaim my decision to depart, got good and mad and set down to draft an e-mail to bones in effect asking for the deletion of my user account.
At four in the morning with the red vision of ire clouding everything that I wrote I slammed my hands into the keyboard and shut the machine down. I could not convey the acidic irritation, the blinding rage, the absolute fury that I was feeling at the time with sufficient verbal force. I wanted to shoot my monitor and throw it off the side of my apartment building.
These dumb fuckers.
No goddamn respect, no fucking code. Learn them good, I'll quit.

I slept on it, woke up the next day and sat down again to finish penning the final missive that would absolve me of any responsibility. Why it was that I had decided to quit, why it was that I was not running away, why it was that this was a good idea and everyone else could kiss my ass.
Again the same problem, I could curse and swear all I wanted but it wasn't going to justify the decision. In the end when I signed on for the first time here I understood that a certain responsibility had been engendered in me by the people that I was planning on lambasting via e-mail, a responsibility that I was currently failing to take seriously by quitting out of shallow momentary frustration.

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Yes, getting downvoted sucks. Especially when you spend three or four hours banging out a page and a half of text that sums up so much of your soul that it makes you want to cry. This is what XP stoicism is for.
Yes, getting blasted in the chatterbox sucks. This is why you can turn it off from 'preferences.'
Yes, you can quit. Before you do, I'd recommend you sit down. Think back to the first time you were C!'d, the first node you wrote, how far you have come since then. Finding one's motivation again may be as simple as taking a vacation for a few days/weeks, or just walking away for a little while.

Realize that Node for the Ages is not a joke. Understand that if you choose to fill the database with garbage, you will not benefit. Comprehend that once you create a new user, you are asking permission to begin a relationship that will last tens of years. If you like, look at starting here like having a child. You want to be a thorougly hated absentee parent?
Quit.
But the editors and everyone else are at fault for your failure?
Wrong. You are.
No one made you quit, no one made life that bad. No one showed up and started picketing around the front of your residence about the formatting of your last node.
If you decide to go, you will do so on your own.