Updated: 11/8/2005

Happy 4th birthday to me
Not so many updates this year, but the administration is not being kind to multi-writeup nodes. And some people are declining XP from voting. What's all that about then, eh?

3 years of updates, 3 years of joy, 3 years of being a goy soy toy boy

AEton wins updater of the year for this past year. AEton, please come to isle 4 to collect your prize of 6 Asian elephants.


Last year's news:

OMG!! OMG!!! What to do if you've got too many votes on your hands celebrates its two year anniversary!

Word to kk and RR and all you others, who kept this alive in its second year.


Last year's last year's news:

What to do if you've got too many votes on your hands celebrates its one year anniversary!

Footprints wishes to thank all those who have updated me in the past year. Ereneta climbs to the top of the list for ceaseless updates!!! Of course, let's not forget cordelia and Professor Pi. And RimRod. Thanks also koreykruse for updating me on deleted nodes (he doesn't get to see his name down there, as I could hardly write it next to nodes that aren't there anymore, so jolly good show).


Teh original node:

You know how it is.... You come home after a long day. You're REALLY tired. But you haven't been on Everything2 all day. You HAVE to log on. And then you see the usual screen:

Ack! You lost experience
You have 2 cools left today
You have 45 votes left today

Dammit! You are SO tired...

Must... go... to... sleep... must... get... XP... sleep... XP... Sleep... XP...
45 votes? You'll never make it! And vote dumping on daylogs is so passé! Footprints to the rescue!. I bring you:

Footprints' 2 step guide to easy vote dumping

Step 1

Bookmark this node now.

Step 2

When you log on, come back here, and choose nodes from the list below, tallying up the total w/u's to match the number of votes you have left. The list includes nodes with more that 10 writeups each, that are easy to vote on. Some are upvote-worthy, but most are Getting To Know You Nodes, that should (IMHO) be clobbered to death using a stout stick. However, as many editors agree with me on this point, you should hurry and get to these nodes before some quick-witted editor gets to them first, thus ruining your chances of downvoting them.

The List

Notes:
  1. I added my comments to some of these nodes. I am not presuming to tell you which way to vote on these nodes. I may, however, state my opinion. For the record, I believe that any GTKY (Getting To Know You) Node, deserves to die. This is in the spirit of E2. There are homenodes and daylogs for things like "How many people have you had sex with?"
  2. I will be updating this. Thank you, come again.
  3. I have tried to pick exceptionally votable nodes. I may have contributed to some of them, and not necessarily in any way I am proud of. I still chose to put them here, because I deserve downvotes for GTKY nodes like everyone.
  4. Footprints is in no way responsible, nor will he be liable for, the opinions in the following nodes, or their existence. If you do find a faulty link, please /msg me.

New Additions
Newer Additions

Newest Additions
Can they get newer than this?
I guess they can!
My oh my! It doesn't end!
There's more round the bend!
That rhymed! I'm a poet!
I didn't even know it!
More newer additions
More more newer additions
More newer more additions
Dated additions (newest)
Valentines' Day Special
  • Everything High School ~30!!! I am so excited. Thanks, Ereneta, for finding me this on this glorious St. Valentine's day. I have been a bit depressed, as the editors and Gods have really been removing GTKY nodes, so I haven't been able to dump downvotes very efficiently. But on this lovely day, both you AND your lover can share the joy of downvoting 30!!! writeups! (14/2/2002)
Post-Valentine's day updates
  • 666 ~12 I could have written some devilishly good comment, but I didn't (15/2/2002)
  • trinity ~15 Ereneta! (26/2/2002)
  • a ~16 (26/2/2002)
  • c ~11 no, b has only 7 (26/2/2002)
  • d ~11 (26/2/2002)
  • e ~16 the vowels are doing well (26/2/2002)
  • g ~14 no, f has 6 (26/2/2002)
  • i ~13 no, h has 6 (26/2/2002)
  • k ~12 no, j has 7 (26/2/2002)
  • m ~11 no, l has 3. Interestingly enough, M has no Webbie defn. (26/2/2002)
  • x ~18 what about nopqrstuvw? no (26/2/2002)
  • z ~13 no, y do you ask? (26/2/2002)
  • our sensei ~26 /me misses sensei (27/2/2002)
  • depression ~13 Ereneta! (3/3/2002)
More dated updated updates with dates up-of-thereof with a forthwith and a hey-ho
Gather round countrymen, please heed my call
Welcoming TBBK to the list of contributors!
And, in distance of order from the sun: When TBBK sets his mind on something, he's unstoppable:
Okay, after a year and I half of incessant updating, you can undertsnad how I migth botch up the spelningl a litlet ibt on theses heders
And you thought I ran out of ideas for headers!
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky.
  • blue ~12 RimRod! (7/7/2002)
  • green ~15 (7/7/2002)
  • black ~11 (7/7/2002)
  • orange ~13 Orange you glad I didn't say purple? (7/7/2002)
RimRod goes east
RimRod goes south
RimRod goes veggie
RimRod reveals all
RimRod starts throwing random stuff in my direction, forcing my to have no suitable title
New header
Newer Header
RimRod is doing a wonderful job of updating me and thus helps keep everyone with plenty of votable nodes, for which we are all grateful. On a side note, getting so many updates in the past day sort of clogged up my inbox. I don't mind at all. Anyway, to show RimRod our appreciation, please copy and paste the following into the chatterbox and press 'talk': /msg RimRod great job in updating Footprints on What to do...! I realise I am one of many thanking you and so your inbox must be awefully crowded, but I had to show my appreciation.
Rent this header
C! this header
koreykruse goes ballistic
(i.e. all the following courtesy koreykruse and 21/9/2002) kk also mentions that almost all of the previous nodes were editor cooled.
Only Lone Star gives me raspberry
Happy birthday to me happy birthday to me happy birthday what to do if you've got too many votes on your hands even though the node whose title you got the inspiration from has now been nuked happy birthday to me
(r) 2002.12.11@21:55 mirv says re What to do if you've got too many votes on your hands : behold, o Footprints, for the sight of this pile o' bloated nodes shall be pleasing to thine eyes
(All comments, subheaders, etc. by mirv, except this one and one more below)

elemental nodes

noisy nodes

some good factuals

(again, my header)
/mirv
AEton
  • children ~10 AEton says, "but try not to softlink it, because that's bad softlinking as commentary." (28/12/2002)
  • pornography ~11 "better softlink fodder"(28/12/2002)
  • gravity ~15 (28/12/2002)
  • shadows ~10 (28/12/2002)
  • alive ~10 (29/12/2002)
  • one ~12 (29/12/2002)
  • seven ~11 (29/12/2002)
  • prime ~10 (29/12/2002)
  • angel ~11 (29/12/2002)
  • heaven ~12 (29/12/2002)
/AEton
AEton again (we apologize for the interruption)
/AEton
Just before the war (possibly the last update, if a chemical scud lands next to my house)
So this duck walks into a duck
Didn't know I was looking for love
Since my last update, E2 and Saddam have a new home
I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
1st update of the 4 year bonanza right on the day

First and foremost, remember that you have as many votes as you want.
Second and, uh, secondmost, remember to never node about noding.

What NOT to do

Upvote

Let's face it - most of us wouldn't be here if there wasn't something good to read. I promise you, you will find some excellent, funny, witty, interesting, and thought-provoking writeups. Upvote them. Ching them. Send the author some loving messages. Get to know the good authors you find. Read some more of their work. Check out their homenodes. Bounce ideas off of them. Everything is a community.

Downvote

I can guarantee that you will also come across a lot of crap here. Some people who like E2 just don't end up being good writers. Newbies make mistakes, and no offense to the long time users (including those who have been here since day one), but a lot of those old writeups just haven't stood the test of time. There is no bullshit to be earned. The bar has been raised.

So, what do you do when you find something unworthy of E2? Don't be afraid to downvote. Downvoting is your way of letting the writer and the Content Editors know that you don't like the writeup*. Perhaps yours will be the only downvote. Do not be ashamed or embarrassed about expressing your opinion. It's just a number in a database after all. However, you should provide your criticism (preferably of the constructive variety) to the author in the form of a /msg. Submit a Nuke Request if you think it's needed. If you are able, create a better writeup to replace it. This place needs more actual content. Let's begin.

* Do not confuse dislike with disagree. A well thought out and intelligently written writeup should be rewarded with an upvote even if you don't agree with the opinions or point of view of the author.


Now for what you came here for: The voting ideas.

Start at node_id #1

I have started a project to generate statistics for all of the nodes on E2. This may be very helpful for you in choosing writeups to vote on. For example, the reports list things such as:

  • Writeups with the most upvotes/downvotes
  • Writeups with the highest/lowest reputation
  • Users with the highest/lowest XP
  • Nodes with the most writeups
  • Nodes with the longest/shortest titles
  • etc.

The concept behind these voting ideas is similar to some of the ideas listed below, except that I have already done the work for you. This project is run by starting at node_id #1 and working my way up gathering statistics on each node and voting on every writeup found. You can see my progress by visiting the nodes below:

Node Audits

Get your name listed in the node audit writeup, or just offer the service on your homenode. You will have authors begging you to vote on their writeups. Of course you will have to take the time to help the noder and offer some comments, but you should be doing that anyway, shouldn't you?

If no one asks you for a node audit, do it anyway...

...Pick a User, Any User

Users with lots of writeups

There are generally two places to find users with lots of writeups: Everything's Best Users or the top of the Other Users Nodelet. One reason you might want to pick a user with lots of writeups is so that you have a long term project. After all, you came to this node because you have too many votes on your hands. An M-noder will keep you busy for weeks or months.

Users with few writeups

Again, there are generally two places to find users with a few writeups (otherwise known as newbies): the bottom of Other Users or (unfortunately) Node Row. Obviously, you can't vote on the writeups in Node Row, but you can help the poor new guy from making the same mistake twice. Provide constructive criticism with each of your votes. Become a mentor. Just be nice - E2 can be hard to get used to for some people. If you must downvote, be gentle.

Make it a Contest

Try to find the highest and lowest rep nodes to vote on (note: the outliers Butterfinger McFlurry and I will REMOVE the fucking toilet seat if you don't shut up don't count). To do this, visit Everything User Search for any user and sort the writeups by reputation. You can also try searching for the oldest C!, the oldest user, the most controversial writeup (a huge number of total votes but a near-zero rep), or just make up your own ideas. Post the findings on your homenode.

Vote Tag

Play vote tag (aka, Vote Swapping) with someone. Offer to vote on 10 of someone's writeups if they will return the favor to you. Note that this should not be an agreement to simply upvote, and is considered somewhat shady by the powers that be. Use at your own risk.

New Writeups / Cool Writeups

When looking at a writeup from the New Writeups or Cool Archive nodelets, get this: you don't have to limit yourself to only voting on the newest writeup, or the recently C!ed writeup. You can often easily spend 5-10 votes in a single node. In the case of the Page of Cool, you can often find a node where every w/u deserves an upvote.

Also, don't limit yourself to simply viewing the newest or most recently cooled writeups. There are some superdocs that allow you to see as many as the last 300 writeups submitted to E2, and the Cool Archive and Page of Cool let you go as far back as you want.

Random Nodes

Click the Random Node link, or one of the links in the Random Nodes Nodelet. Vote on everything in that node.

Daylogs

It is common knowledge that the daylogs are the most frequently used vote dumping grounds. This writeup would be incomplete if I didn't at least mention this fact. While daylogs did not seem to be quite as popular back on E1, there are regular daylogs back through 1999, with scattered logs in 1996-1998 as well. If you are so inclined, you can probably spend all of your votes on daylogs until Everything3 arrives. <gtky>I just don't happen to agree with vote dumping in general. I used to believe that daylogs were a waste of time and space, but the longer I stay here, but more I find some of the most interesting and creative writeups in the day logs.</gtky> As with any other writeup, read the daylog before casting your vote.

To make voting on daylogs more interesting, go back and read the logs from days when important world events occurred. Try looking at dates important to you to see what others were doing. Try your birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Leap Day, try a year ago today, or pick the date of some important world event. Add some nostalgia. Learn about your fellow noders.

Be a Nice Neighbor

Go visit all the nodes that contain one of your writeups. Vote on your neighboring writeups. You are sharing the space with other noders, you might as well give your opinion on the living conditions.

To be neighborly myself, I would also ask that you read the voting suggestions by Footprints above.

Bookmarks / Message Inbox

Have you let the list of bookmarks on your homenode get out of hand? Clean them out by going back and reading and voting on each of them. The same goes for your Message Inbox - clean it out by visiting every hard link and pipe link before deleting the messages.

Explore

Remember when you first found E2? I bet you spent hours reading a node, following hardlinks and softlinks, bookmarking, and probably had several browser windows open at once. Get back to your roots. Do an "Ignore Exact" search on a topic that interests you. Start reading. Start learning. Start enjoying. Spend your votes as you go.

What to do when you don't have enough votes on your hands

Kind words beat upvotes and C!s every day.

See Also

Search for more writeups about voting on E2


Ironically, I was serially downvoted twice shortly after I posted this. Also, this is my writeup with the most downvotes. I guess you're just giving me your opinion. I love you guys.

Do you have more voting ideas? /msg me.

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