The quest for high rep nodes (idea)

Most everyone, at one time or another, follows the quest for high rep nodes and exp. This is a good and healthy thing to do - it encourages you to write good nodes.

The following are tips about different types of nodes that appear on Everything and how to use these to their fullest.

Write about sex

Sex is a very popular topic on Everything - admit it. We read and write about intercourse, masturbation, lesbian experiences and most anything else that crosses the screen with the letters 'S', 'E', and 'X'. Women have a clear advantage here - there are many males on Everything2 and it is almost a universal truth that they we are curious about women - bodies, feelings, emotions and how-tos.

On the flip side, many people can commiserate with the battle of the sexes. Likewise, erotica is often quite well received. From datagirl's Passionate Kiss to MoJoe's Toilet seat. From Aphrodite's explicit works to Junkpile's subtlety. Katyana and masturbation to Lillianvalencia's experiences. Even technical descriptions of male issues can get a high rep. Yes, sex is well received.

Pets, and primarily cats

Almost everyone has had a pet, and can tell a story about the pet. For some reason, it appears that there is a conspiracy of some sort and cats are better represented than other pets. It might also be they have better stories to tell, or they own interesting keepers... or maybe they know how to type and write their own nodes?

Religion and philosophy

While Everything is a rather enlightened community and often enjoys the not too deep philosophical writeup, avoid preaching and dogmatic writing. Frequently, there is a pro-science bend. Do not insult other religions, cultures, or philosophies. If possible, research the topic fully and explain belief and historical context rather than preaching it. Examples of this include: Religious Dietary Laws and Restraints, 39 Melachot, 10 Reasons to Believe in God, and Ten reasons why creation scientists don't believe in evolution.

Feed the troll

Often, feeding the troll can be a bad thing, and beware of the DMan land mines that sit there waiting for someone to reply to them. Many times, the troll doesn't know that he or she is trolling, but rather putting forth some really bad facts or off the wall opinion that they honestly believe. Yet, there are times that feeding the troll can lead to a well written writeup, and these are the source of high reps and thus exp.

An important thing in troll feeding is to completely ignore the troll. Do not respond to the troll directly and make sure that your writeup does not depend upon the original one. Instead, take ownership of the node and make it your own - that way if the original is nuked, yours remains to bask in glory. One example of this is 'What's wrong with the world?' - the original has been nuked.

Factual noding

The truth of factual noding gets you nowhere is debatable. However, a well written factual node has longevity and reuse beyond any other node out there. When writing factual nodes for high rep, take time to research the topic fully and create ASCII art to demonstrate what is being written about. Quoting sources often helps. Do not copy and paste the content but, once again, make it your own and add original content. Glance at Quinine and drawing knots with ascii art for examples of the essence of ascii art.

Touch the person reading

When we go out to buy a book in the book store, we get books that interest us, humor us, enrapture us, and touch us. A book that does none of these things we don't enjoy. The same is true with nodes. When writing a node about a story, make the reader actually feel something rather than yawn. When writing these nodes, don't whine - there are several hundred people who write nodes with some degree of regularity, and there is enough of whining as it is. Examples of good nodes: you better put some beauty back, while you've got the energy, I wish I could cry, Crystal Rose Giczy, and let the earth hear his voice

Don't lie, don't make stuff up - you have now touched a person's feelings, and have some control over them.

Paint a picture with words

Very much akin to touching the reader, here it is a description so vivid that the person can feel the place being read about. This is especially true with 'ordinary' things such as a night where you live.

I would especially like to mention prole, yossarian, stand/alone/bitch and junkpile in their descriptions. Their use of words to describe a situation constantly amazes me - each word choice and phrase speaks with the power of a master painting... or you can see for yourself: I know how to bring a whiskey bottle pleasure with my touch., I have a punklin and you don't, Her, eating apples, showers in the dark, and piano outside in the snow. and she was spinning

Poetry and fiction

One common thing that people often do is node the poetry or a story they have written. Often this falls in the touching the person reading, tell us that it is such so that we know what to expect and can judge it as fiction as it is read. Poetry and fiction rarely gain high reps, and everyone considers someone else's poetry to be 'bad'. However, here are always exceptions to the trends.

Daylogs

Daylogs are vote dumps that renew each day. Many people vote there just to get rid of their votes. This often leads to 10 or 20 votes on a well written daylog, sometimes more. Rarely will these be C!'ed or receive attention after they are written. It is attention that gives nodes high reps over time.

General advice

• Formating is a very nice to have on any node. Paragraph breaks, italic where appropriate, bold where appropriate. Make the page visually pleasing to read and look at. If you need help here, glance at The Nitpicker's guide to E2 style and formating - this node lists the more picky things about formating.
• Choose titles wisely, and don't be afraid to add to an existing node. The title is often the only thing that people see and bring them into the node. Give them everything you promise in the title. Make the title one that people will link to, and one that does not exclude everyone else.
• Realize that subjective writeups get subjective voting. Not everyone wants to read the same thing. Some do, some don't, and some will vote upon how they feel. Don't be dismayed.
• A node presenting fact or opinion should be written as if it was a college paper, or if not college, a paper written at to get an 'A' in the highest level of schooling attended.
• Avoid noding about noding - like this. We all have access to Everything, and we all have something to say about it. Often, it takes some time to get the feel of Everything and the comments of those who have just started are less respected than those who have been around for several months. This does not mean that words of old timers are canon. Whatever the case, unless it is very insightful or helpful as judged by the Everything community, it won't get a high rep and is most likely to get eventually nuked.
• Realize, that many of the nodes I have mentioned above are recognized because the people (I like to include myself in that list) are well known and recognized as being excellent noders and thus the fame with that name leads people to vote upon the nodes too. The first step in this process is writing quality nodes.
• Whatever your reason for wanting to gain exp and rep, do not let it come before the reason of 'having fun'. This should be paramount in all cases to any other reason you may node. If you are not having fun, you won't be enjoying what Everything has to offer.

Happy noding - and don't forget to have fun.