1. What is your name?
Jessica Pierce
2. What is your quest?
pie
3. What is your favorite color?
jukka
4. How did you discover Everything, and how did you become a noder?
Can't remember how I found it, but its combination of freedom and limitations immediately appealed. I liked being allowed to tell any fact or story, but restricted to contained, twitteresque blurbs. It was fun to set up a leapfrog game for a reader. Although I was shocked to realize people were actually reading it.
5. What do you see as the most significant changes that have happened to Everything over the past decade?
For a site that's in constant flux, it's kept the same feel (at least to me) for an amazing span of time.
The improvements in communication (I remember when chatterbox felt revolutionary) - chatting, scratchpad, homenode images & space - have helped build a specific sense of community which keeps people coming back. If the site hadn't gone in a direction which encouraged feedback and conversation, it wouldn't have the same social appeal. Christ, this whole paragraph is "if things were different, things would be different" but I hope you know what I mean.
6. What are your favorite writeups -- both your own and from other noders?
I like anything that feels as if someone pushed himself past the limits of what he thought he could write. And I love to see someone get better over time.
7. What are your favorite and least favorite memories from E2's history?
Least favorite has to be the advent of all this twee shit. The site still fosters great writing, but it's become tolerant of some very, very bad writing. I enjoyed olden days when editors were sterner. I think that approach forced more people to improve. There's always been room for fiction and poetry and anecdotes and playfulness, but christ
dude.
My favorite e2 memory is self-indulgent; it isn't anything to do with its general history. When I found e1 I was six months out of college, which had been traumatic near the end. I worked my ass off getting two degrees in writing, then found myself hating words. Severe burnout plus a job in retail plus some grueling personal problems made me feel pretty creatively dead. Putting things together had no appeal for me.
I didn't know it at the time, but it was breaking my heart to live without making anything.
E1 was an easy, non-threatening venue where I could take small steps toward real creativity. Ten years later I'm making a living making things, things I choose to invent. I'm sort of incredibly happy. Didn't see it coming.
So yeah, my favorite part is how a website reminded me to wake up, and then honed me. I will talk no end of smug shit about the helplessly goofy nature of the internet / e2 / nerds. But I'll also always feel a particular warm identification with this place and its people. Both are true.
8. What keeps you coming back?
People.
9. What do you hope for E2's future?
10. What does E2 mean to you?
11. Is E2 a writing site, a community site, an online encyclopedia, or something else? What should it be?
Scott, I tried to answer these for half an hour and I can't do it. I keep thinking about gingerbread. Here's as far as I got: I think e2 has built itself a fascinating niche in the world of online user-created content, but I wish the bar would get raised motherfucking high.
12. Who are your favorite noders? Which ones do you miss the most?
This question assumes e2 was/is my primary way of knowing people I met through the site. It wasn't and isn't. Most of my e2 friends I'm either still in contact with, or know how to find. I spend time here when I feel like it; I might go months or years without logging in, but I don't feel a sense of loss. I send emails and postcards.
13. Who would play you in the Everything2 movie?
Toasterleavings is too pretty, but he's got the swagger down.
Everything2 Decaversary Interviews
If you have questions or comments, please contact jessicapierce or Jet-Poop.