I’m over a year late with this, better late than never.
1. What is your name?
Bob Toborg. That’s the source of my user name. Growing up I was known as “the borg” long before Star Trek came along.
2. Tell us something about you, your background, and what you've been up to lately?
Not much to tell really. When I’m not playing the role of superhero and saving the planet from imminent destruction, I’m just your average unassuming run of the mill business systems analyst. Lately, I’ve been pondering my future in that area since my company is laying off people left and right and from the looks of it, it will only be a matter of time before my head goes on the chopping block. When that happens, I’ll do the superhero gig full time.
3. How did you discover Everything, and how did you become a noder?
Damn, it’s been so long. I don’t know if I discovered E2 or if somehow E2 discovered me. I know I lurked around for about six months or so before I grew a set of balls and decided to take the plunge and start writing here.
4. What are your favorite writeups -- both your own and from other noders?
For those of you who know me and have been around for a little while, my life here at E2 is pretty much an open book. I’ve tried to chronicle events in my life, both past and present as the events unfolded. It’s been somewhat of a cathartic (really Webster, really? ) experience and I hope I did them some justice. Ironically, most of my favorite write-ups that I posted were originally posted as “hidden”. That was back in the day when it was considered “bad form” to post things of a personal nature on new w/u’s for all to see. Even more ironically, many of those remain the ones that received the most recognition. Here’s just a few of them in no particular order.
I had a brother, once
Please Don't Bury Me
I am a pot roast
It was hard to say hello. It was even harder to say goodbye.
The Healing Powers of Ping Pong
I plant gardens, I grow forests
I shoulda been there
The third time's a charm
Normal is just a setting on a washing machine
Some people feel the rain, others just get wet
The truth behind the eyes
As far as other noders go, there’s a certain someone that for obvious and selfish reasons who will always be number one in my book.
As far as collaborative efforts go, An apology, a love note and a remembrance represents the best E2 has to offer. A shout goes out to karma debt for letting loose a stream of memorable writing about a memorable lady.
I remember being reduced to tears when I read dannye’s All the gold you can eat. I was at the office and had to leave for about a half hour or so just to steady myself. It affected me that much. The same goes for Halspal and his tale of Why the willow weeps.
On the other side of the coin, I remember laughing my ass off at allseeingeye’s CIA World Factbook – Hell and Jet-Poop’s stroke of genius in his review of the movie The Incredible Hulk.
No one can be unhappy with a fresh box of crayons by IWhoSawtheFace brought me back to the days of my childhood.
Iceowl and what he puts out has amazed me from day one.
Riverrun is in another category all by himself.
From there you can take your pick from a host of others. Anything by doyle (Hey dude, you need to put those back), Lometa, ( I still hope for a triumphant return one day), grundoon (whom I’m sure I’ll see again in the ether someday) and wertperch (for whom the words “grace under pressure” aren’t adequate enough to do him justice..)
5. What are your favorite and least favorite memories from E2's history?
Favorite:
There are far too many favorite memories in E2’s history for me to begin to even list. I guess a couple of gatherings here in Ohio rate high up there. Oh yeah, all the kind words and cards that I received after my open heart surgery and quad bypass a few years back made something that seemed unbearable somehow bearable. Thanks to everybody who took the time to either msg, call, or write me or even keep me in their thoughts for a moment or two.
Least favorite:
That’s easy. Grundoon’s passing really affected me personally. Has it really been almost a year?
Even though I can understand it, I’m always disappointed when someone pulls their work.
On another more general note, I really hate it when people pour themselves into a particular w/u only to have it garner 15 to 20 votes. I can see why people are reluctant to post anything that they’ve spent hours or days working on and it getting so little recognition.
That whole Community2 experiment some years back also left a bad taste in my mouth.
6. What keeps you coming back?
The free beer. What, you didn’t get any?
7. What do you hope for E2's future?
What I’ve been hoping all along. More eyeballs and more new writers. I hope E2 finally gets the recognition from the rest of the internet community that it deserves. I find it mind boggling that it hasn’t happened … yet.
8. What does E2 mean to you?
I guess you can call E2 my online sanctuary of sorts. I don’t do Facebook or any other kind of social media and even though I haven’t met too many of you, I’d l like to consider you all my friends.
9. Who are your favorite noders? Which ones do you miss the most?
Well, everybody that I mentioned earlier and quite a few more They also happen to be many of the ones I miss the most such as Jessicapierce, witchiepoo, thefez, amnesiac and anybody else who decided to pull the plug too early.
10. Who would play you in the Everything2 movie?
Jeez, I don’t know. I’m not a big Hollywood kinda guy but I’m guessing it would be somebody like “that dude” who always plays second fiddle and whose name is on the tip of your tongue and even though you’ve seen him a bazillion times you just can’t remember it.
11. Please fill in the blank: "E2 is to the Internet as ___ is to the world."
Licorice. Why do I say that? Well, here’s a quote from Jerry Garcia when he was asked to describe Deadheads. I think it applies pretty well when I compare it to E2 and our users.
”Deadheads are kinda like people who like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice, *really* like licorice!”
Everything2 Decaversary Interviews
If you have questions or comments, please contact borgo or Jet-Poop.