You, dear reader, may want to look here for reference before continuing.
As of joining March 11, 2003 I have been here 5.1 months. I've always been amused by the use of a system of tenths to divide an ever changing length of days in a month. Within this time-frame, I am of course, a newbie. With this writeup and if all goes according to plan, I will obtain level 4 with all the cooling powers that are requisite with that station. Let the nodegel quiver in anticipation.
The Bickering Never Dies
I remember a while back when the topic of the Catbox was a certain speech on the evolution of social software and the implications therein. Though it was quite drawn out and at times dry, I found it fascinating for its dead-eye accuracy of pin-pointing some of the problems that plague E2's community. It was soon added to the FAQ here. It is further titled, A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy. The FAQ says that it is required reading for anyone desiring to be admin/editor, but I feel that all noders would benefit from reading it beginning to end.
Part of the infighting and differences of opinion are a good thing. It proves that people care; the problem only becoming dire when people start to care more about their opinion than they do about E2. In that case, don't let the door hit you in the yadda-yadda. Otherwise, let there be constructive debate, and even let it get a little hairy. Stagnation is going to help no one, and we all know that this thing is an experiment on a number of levels.
Diplomacy Done: Let the Ranting Begin
One of the first writeups I did here was titled I am not a writer. If you can even find a nodeshell for it now I'd be surprised. My cunning wit was cut short before it had passed even a quarter of the New Writeup list. Goddamn. So I nursed my bruised ego and set about to bely the irony that I had been so proud of. I set out to become a writer.
That process involved any number of critiques, editing, deletions, and audits - from myself, editors, noders, and other RL friends. This place has potential to be a repository of knowledge, but it can also be a think tank, a testing ground, and a town meeting. Just as I found personal evolution here, so is the world I found it in evolving all the time. If that involves raising the bar, than I hope that I can rise up to meet the challenge. If it involves solely original work... well, I don't really want to get into that one. Go to a file-sharing community if you want to steal. This place is not about making things easy, or the LCD
/me steps off of the soapbox