The Revolution Spins Around Again
As with everything in life, E/N has cycles. Mood swings, more precisely. We’re going through a trough again. I get the distinct feel of discontent across the community. Perhaps E/N is overpopulated and has begun choking on its own waste? Perhaps it’s a temporary downturn? I mean, doesn’t the paragraph beneath look oh-so-familiar?
“E/N” is a new genre of website run mostly by people who lack creativity and hunger for attention. If you’ve seen one, you’ve basically seen them all, as most of these sites are nothing more than recycled pieces of shit. Although themes vary from one “E/N” site to the next, they usually contain the same generic layout, the same stolen news articles, and links to the same 10-20 “weird” and “shocking” sites. Nobody knows where it all began, but in my opinion, the demise of the “E/N” fad is long overdue.
There are periods where people peer into the community, see a bunch of thriving sites, are entralled and decide they want to be involved in the community. Then there are periods like this, where people peer in and see a bunch of bickering, petty sites and immediately distance themselves from it all. My my, hasn’t the small, but tight, community of 98/99 twisted into something ugly such that people make comments on it like the one above?
The question is – is E/N a fad? What is a fad? “A fashi o n that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.” No doubt, E/N has been undertaken with enthusiasm. This can be seen not only by the sheer number of sites that have sprung up, but also by the sheer number of sites saying, “this is the kind of site I’ve always wanted to do!” Especially note the sites that say, “I just created this site to express my creativity. I made my site before I even knew what E/N was.” The fact that you didn’t know what E/N was doesn’ t mean it can’t be classed as one – E/N at heart is a genre that only later developed into a community. And that is what E/N is about – an easy way to express whatever creativity you want. So, that leaves the “for a brief period of time” statement. How long is brief? The fact is, E/N was built upon strong foundations (indeed, before the term was coined) in 1998. How can I assert this? Well, it is interesting to note that the majority of sites created in 98 and early 99 are still around (and the s e are sites that started up when there was no established community to draw “inspiration” or motivation from – yes, motivation). If E/N is a fad, then the whole genre should die within the space of a couple years (which is already a long period of time when you consider the Internet). I see no signs of the genre dying. Perhaps the community may shrink, but in my point of view, that reflects the establishment of an equilibrium (or attainment of some sort of maturity), not the death of E/N. None t heless, time will tell. Disagree? Comments?
6:01pm (GMT +10.00) from Work, North Sydney
