Responses to: The Revolution Spins Around Again (posted 15/5/00)
I completely agree. No two ways about that.
– RegBarc—–
On your post about the E/N community: When i first started reading E/N sites i was thinking “wow, this is cool! look at all these designers, and programmers doing sites, and linking to other people”. I must admit my first E/N site i viewed was Stileproject.com (my brother found it via Marlyn Mansons old site), then it was on to BAMF then Ramblings, then a few others, and i hit HearYe!.
Anyways, i do see a few sites which seem to be inovating, using some cool layouts, and such. But there seems to be a steady stream of people who just cut and paste the layout from someone else, and use the same script to update there websites. I can tell you i was pretty disappointed when i found out that the majority of e/n sites werent as innovative, and werent programs, just guys filling out scripts and posting stuff.
I still read E/N. But for a time i was so sick of seeing the same layout look that, that certain script outputs. I think E/N sites are fun, and they will always be around in one form or another. As long as there’s one guy who links to another guys site and mentions something on it, there will always be readers to go around.
You’ve seen one youve seen them all? Well, it all depends. Usually, if you go to one site, and then to a sub-domain on that site, yeah, they usually do look the same, or say the same things. I would have to admit that i dont usually read more than one E/N site off of any given domain name. Why? well, theres usually a few people who post around on the different subdomains saying the same thing. Usually people on one site are friends of the people with a subdomain, which usually think alike.
Kinda gets a little dull reading the same thing over and over again. Domain wars get boring. People talking shit about other domains and such get old quickly. If ya dont like it, dont read it.
Sure, i have a few favorites, one being the site I designed, and wrote all the scripts for (but dont actually post on) Shattered.com. Then there’s Bence. Gotta love Jon and his bad back. I visit BAMF, and Stileproject(i wrote a script for him a while back which he uses almost on a daily basis). I read Pants2k.com, geeklife, Hear Ye!, and DID read Ramblings (back in the days).
Im sure from the list above, you can see that there IS a big difference in the types of E/N sites I go to. And different people go to different places for different reasons. (Ha, i didnt actually think i could get the word ‘different’ 3 times in one sentance and actually make SOME sence).
Now, i dont like to think im a “kid” (im 24 and a programmer for an e-commerce software developer) but i do like to read other peoples sites, and what interests other people… Why? Because it’s fun. And it wastes some time during my lunch break…
Keep up the good work guys…
Chris—–
i think the way i look at this e/n community, and how to be “successful” in it, is just the mentality you take into it.
i don’t know how to explain it, it’s just how it is. i hope you understand what im talking about. i’m fairly new to this community, but i feel i made it very successfully, for the short while i’ve been here. im not talking hits wise, but… i learned alot, met alot of new people, and i enjoy the positive feedback i get. granted, people might judge their success by the amount of hits they get(evilnet), but if everybody thinks they have a crappy site, is it really THAT successful? these are just some random thoughts, i guess kind of in relation to what you were talking about on your page. i stand on the same grounds as tba on the mail he sent out just before he removed himself from the list. and i wanted to ask you, do you agree on there being a “social hierarchy” in e/n? like, some people are understood as, higher in the e/n ladder than others, but people mistaking their positions? hehe. yea, see ya later.
sung—–
“e/n” may die, but it’ll be back under a new alias in no time. Another group out there on the internet we have no idea about is probably coining their own terms about freeform writing/journalism. and that quoted paragraph applys everywhere. gaming sites are all the same as well. But they still strive. “Although themes vary from one “gaming” site to the next, they usually contain the same generic layout, the same stolen news articles, and links to the same 10-20 “gaming” and “review” sites. ” right? It applys everywhere. That’s about as strong as a generic quote from a mad lib. Apply it to the daily news at yahoo, cnn, whatever. It’s still the same. But from the looks of it, nobodys dying (or is in the process of dying) over there.
~wabut—–
Who really cares, why are peopling aruging over who is E/N and who is not? I keep my site going for the fun of it and the stuff I learn from it. I get usually 15-20 hits on a good day, I could really care less, sure lots of hits would be nice because I could share my opinions with more people, but it’s not something I worry about. I would say most people just do their sites for fun and don’t worry about what everyone thinks. Also how do people classify an E/N site just by its looks? Personally I can’t tell much difference between a weblog an E/N site or any other site, and I don’t see why it even matters at all, the writing is how you tell the difference. How is E/N going to die? Despite all of the followers out there, some people try to be unique, they try to stand out. Those are the people who get new things started. What I do is try to update my site before I even go to another E/N site that way I have no chance of copying their material. But even if people do copy the material everyone adds their own humor and sarcasm into it, so they aren’t alike anyways. Ok I think I ranted on enough there. By the way, keep up the good work.
vajuggalo1—–
my comments were not directed towards the e/n community as a whole, but rather towards the new sites which exist only to leech creative content from others. these people are obviously just trying to be part of the latest trend. am i the only one who sees this? i dont know about you, but i cant respect a follower.
– Mike—–
I feel bad. I started building a website a month ago before I found e/n, and then I thought.. hey, look, these sites are like mine. All I knew about was stiles site and I wanted to have a voice like stile without being stile. So I suddenly start bitching about how e/n is uncreative. Well I believe it, e/n won’t die, but the only sites that will survive are the ones who use the forum to create original content. I’m afraid that all of the copycat sites will water down e/n so much that you won’t know who the real e/n sites are anymore.
My site will be the first one to get better.
Richard
Indulging the Masses has a rant about e/n too.
12:00am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow 
