E2's standards for citing sources for writeups are pretty fast-and-loose. But what happens when someone wants to use something that they found on Everything in an outside medium?
Within Everything, it's very easy to cite other writeups; all you have to do is mention, "Hey, I got this from buddy's writeup," and provide a link to that writeup. And obviously, citing outside sources in Everything is easy because you can use MLA or APA or whatever your favorite style may be. But citing from Everything is a different story.
Everything on Everything is copyrighted to the author. That means that every writeup you ever wrote is your own intellectual property. This has its strong points, since you deserve credit for good information. It also has its drawbacks, since you are responsible for bad information.
Most information on Everything is inappropriate for use in a scholarly paper. "Facts" which you may learn here are hearsay at best; you should probably try to find an original source before ever citing a fact from Everything, because nobody puts up their original scientific or literary essays on Everything first – at least, right now. And really, who's going to draw on a "getting-to-know-you" node? But be that as it may; there remain several scholarly uses for Everything, and many more potential scholarly uses which may be put into effect in the not-too-distant future. Already, some people (myself included) have started noding some of their best term papers.
Among the best scholarly uses of Everything are Webster 1913's definitions (but definitely not the "I boinked your mom" fiasco), or someone's original interpretation of primary sources. Obviously, you can't include links (which can sometimes change the emphasis), but you can still capture most of the content. For example (<shameless plug>), let's say you found my writeup on Friedrich Nietzsche particularly helpful for a philosophy paper you're writing. Let's say you find it so helpful that you decide to quote a passage in your paper. If that happens, you must cite me – otherwise, you're committing plagiarism, which is bad mojo all around.
Now, electronic sources are a sticky problem, and as far as I know, the major style associations haven't settled on a set of conventions for citation. Nonetheless, here's a good guide for citing from Everything.
MLA
If you are absolutely, 100% sure of the author's real name, use this format:
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Writeup (idea/person/place/thing)" Everything2. Date as stamped by server. Online. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=(Node ID ##) (Date of Access).
If you have the least iota of doubt about the author's real name, it's okay to use their username, like so.
Username. "Title of Writeup (idea/person/place/thing)" Everything2. Date as stamped by server. Online. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=(Node ID ##) (Date of Access).
For example, let's say I'm writing a paper for my English class about Everything. Let's say I use the quote:
Everything is what you make of it, that's the bottom line. It's open-ended, open-minded and waiting for you. You can node your diary, cd collection, dreamlog, notes on the apocalypse or a recipe for fettucine alfredo. You can sit around and read what other people have written. You can recommend changes in the system. You can do almost anything you want to provide you spell it right... (dem bones)
Now, here's how I would put that into my "Works Cited" page:
dem bones. "What is Everything? (idea)" Everything2. February 7th, 2000. Online. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=410014 (October 11, 2000).
APA
APA style is similar, but the information is treated a little differently. Here's how it should look.
Author's Last Name, Author's Initial. (Date as stamped by server). Title of Writeup (idea/person/place/thing). Everything2, [Online]. Available: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=(Node ID ##) [Date of Access].
Or again, if all you have is the username:
Username. (Date as stamped by server). Title of Writeup (idea/person/place/thing). Everything2, [Online]. Available: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=(Node ID ##) [Date of Access].
Using dem bones's writeup as an example again, the format in APA would be:
dem bones. (February 7, 2000). What is Everything? (idea). Everything2, [Online]. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=410014 [October 11, 2000].
I hope this information helps to:
1: Increase the general quality of scholarship in Everything.
2: Advertise e2 to the outside world, specifically those who might help to increase the general quality of scholarship – specifically, people who read scholarly papers such as would warrant use of the above styles of citation.
3: Suggest a use for e2 I've never before seen implemented.
Writeups I have heretofore cited:
Undistributed Middle by anomie
Anglo-Saxon England by SueZVudu
I'll see you all in the funny pages. | 
