graceness

Why There is no Sim2

Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood



For longer complaints, goodnightgracie at gmail.

To Sir With Love:

I liken this to a job in some ways: Some employees come and go. Some employees put forth more effort than others. Some have titles that others don't feel they deserve. The employees bicker about the management, the management bicker about the employees. People keep scrawling things on the bathroom stalls.

In other ways, I don't. For those of you who are new to it, there is no real way to explain it, although some analogies come close. It's just another website, but boy howdy can it change you.

I didn't know this place existed until Alpheus dragged me here kicking and screaming. He discovered this place through a stile project entry, I believe. I was one of the few people that managed to stick around past the initial novelty/trolling (I did not participate in that, as I had no idea that stile was the reason I got here). This place lured me in ways that no other site managed to - it seduced me with words.

How intoxicating it is, to have almost immediate feedback on your thoughts, fingers plinking on the keyboard and hitting that shiny button that submits your write-up. Forget XP, or all of that. I never really understood it when I first arrived and even now it is of little use to me. To me it was all about that feedback.

Everthing2 also drove me to be a better writer. Or rather, the people who contributed here did. I would feed off of the words of others like so many fine apéritifs. When I first started contributing here, my contributions were little more than vignettes, scraps of thought spread on the page. I was a blank slate, and little by little, you all have seeped into me and helped fill in the lines. Some of you are long departed, but trust me, not forgotten.

I've been an editor. I've been the newbie. I've been a mentor. I've been the seasoned vet. I've spent many, many hours in #e. I've pioneered a group and become a member of many more. I've met noders, I've touched them, I've corresponded with them, I've laughed and cried with them. I actually know some of the things that people want to know about.

I've even been the fled noder in a manner of speaking, with all but one write-up deleted - believe it or not, they were NOT for the typical "Asamothian" taking-my-ball-home type reasons. There are people on this site that know exactly why it happened, and I don't feel that I have to explain myself to any of you on that point. Eventually I realized that the reason for my taking all those words away didn't make a lick of difference to my situation at the time, I returned them to their rightful place.

My first write-up is dead and long gone. It was crap, and I know it was crap, and I'm okay with that. I would be lying if I said E2 didn't help me become a better writer - oh good gravy did it ever. It had nothing to do with "updated standards" or elitist whatever it is you may think is stomping on you at the moment.

It had to do with a lot of the people here. We would feed each other lines, seed each other's minds with thoughts and build, expand, grow and grow. But we all start at the beginning, and the beginning is not so good, but it's where you have to be initially.

To those of you joining, I must say this: Don't give up. Some people here will be hostile initially, but not everyone will be so. Think of it like a job - little by little, you have to worm your way into our hearts. It may seem like an awful lot of work for something that should be for leisure, but to most of us, it is a labor of love.

I'm not naive. I know (don't we all know it!) that E2 will never be what it was, and several years from now if it's still around it will change yet again. There is not one single thing that can be done about that. Life isn't static, and the internet most assuredly isn't. But there's nothing wrong with nostalgia, no more than there is anything wrong with the desire for change.

In October I will have been coming to this site for 8 years. That is equivalent to a million when you are on the internet. In eight years I've seen this grow into something much bigger than all of us, and the people working on reigning in that chaos have my respect if not love. Just so long as they understand - when you reign in a wild horse, it's going to buck at you. It's going to chomp at the bit and spit at you and bray and stomp. It will fight you to the bitter end until you finally break it.

What you then have is a broken thing. If you want to gain that wild thing's love and understanding, you need to handle it with caution. Otherwise - the first chance that shows up, your wild horse will stray, or just stop working altogether, and allow its heart to gradually slow to apace until it's barely breathing.

You get what you give. I've given more of myself to this place than to any other. I've gained a lot more in return than I am able to articulate. I'm not about to judge anyone or how they choose to contribute, or not contribute.

Here is a list of contributions that keep me coming here. It is by no means complete, and if you feel that you have been overlooked, know that it wasn't done on purpose; this took me hours and years of scouring through all of your thoughts, and it was truly a labor of love. I've written this list twice before, and I am happy to say that the list grows and grows each time I compile it. I lost count over 250-something - there's a LOT here. I hope to see a LOT more as the time passes. I want you on this list. Stay. Contribute. Help us build and grow.

00100 18thCandidate

achan ac_hyper Ahab ailie Akasha akatchoom allseeingeye Alpheus amib amnesiac Ancientsnow Andrew Aguecheek Andromache01 aneurin Angela annola anthropod Apatrix Apollyon arcanamundi archy ascorbic Ashley Pomeroy AspieDad atesh Auduster Augustine automaus avalyn

Bakeroo bewilderbeast bexxta Billy bindlenix birdonmyshoulder* Bitca Bitriot BlackPawn bol BookReader booyaa borgette borgo Braunbeck Byzantine

cahla call calliope ccunning C-Dawg chaotic_poet chappyzoodle Chase ch'i-lin Chras4 Chris-O Cinderella Cool Man Eddie clampe claypenny codic Cow of Doom creases Crux cryforhelp czeano

Danneeness dannye darl deeeahblita deep thought DejaMorgana Demeter Devon Dimview Dis discofever donfreenut DonJaime doyle dpride Dreamvirus drownzsurf dustfromamoth DylanDog

EDB edebroux enth e-lainey eliane eliserh enth etoile etouffee Ereneta Evil Catullus Excalibur eyeofthebeholder

factgirl flamingweasel Frankie flyingfish

gahachino Girlface gleeme Glowing Fish gn0sis golFUR Gorgonzola GrouchyOldMan Gritchka grundoon gunpoint gwenllian

Halspal hamster bong Hatshepsut haze Heisenberg Helmut hemos henry flower Hermetic heyoka hramyaegr Hyphenated

iceowl icicle ideath Igloowhite Ikura impishlaugh in10se Indra363 Infinite Burn instantkarma IWhoSawTheFace izubachi

j3nny3lf Jack Jane JayBonci Jennifer jessicapierce jethro bodine Jet-Poop Jinmyo jjen jmpz JoeBear Joyquality juliet Junkill junkpile Jurph just1wheat

karma debt katherine kazarelth Kensey kerawall KillerPenguin Kit Lo Klaproth kmcardle knifegirl kohlcass kthejoker

laconic Lady Midnight LadySun LaggedyAnne lailoken La petit mort Laura Elizabeth legbagede LeoDV libertas liha liontamer littlegoddess locke baron Lometa longwinter Lord Brawl Lost and Found Lucy-S

mad girls love song Magnas mat catastrophe maxClimb mauler Mer minisecret misuba Mitchevious Mitzi mkb ModernAngel moJoe moloch36 momomom montecarlo mordel moxie Mr. Hotel m_turner

nate NinjaPenguin niruena nocte N0b0dY Noether noost Noung No Springs N-Wing

oakling oenone OldMiner olmanrvr Oolong ophie Orange Julius originalzin Orpheum O-Swirl Ouroboros

Palpz panamaus paraclete pelsmith perdedor per ou piq Pocket Mouse poetic princess loulou Princess Therion prole Pseudo_Intellectual psydereal pukesick

qousqous Quizro QXZ

RACECAR radlab0 RalphyK RainDropUp Rancid_Pickle randir Reasonless rischi riverrun Roninspoon rootbeer277 Rose_Red rummage ryano

scarf Scout Finch Scribe Scriblerus sekicho Segnbora-t semprini sensei shaogo SharQ sid simonc Simulacron3 siouxsie Skoob SophiesCat sparkleface speedo spiregrain stand/alone/bitch swankivy Swap

tandex Templeton The Custodian TheDeadGuy The Debutante the gilded frame TheGrocersApostrophe themanwho theonomist throwrug Timeshredder ToasterLeavings Tom Rook Transitional Man Trevor Goodchild Two Sheds

Uberfetus uncredible Unstrung ushdfgakjasgh

voidptr vebelfetzer vuo

Walter wamckee Webster1913 wertperch wharfinger Wiccanpiper WickerNipple will witchiepoo wordnerd wuukiee

xdjio XWiz

yam yclept yossarian Ysardo

Zach zot-fot-piq