Outside links are a Bad Thing, and their mere suggestion is frequently the cause of Fear and Loathing in E2 circles. Well, fair enough -- after all, Everything is Everything. But what about all those poor deluded surfers out there, who aren't yet noding on E2? How will they ever get in?

Well, there are plenty of sites which link to Everything, and I hope someone takes the time to list them. Lots of them are reviews, which mostly means praise for Everything. That's another good one to go about compiling, along with searching for "everything" on Google. But that's not what this node is about.

Linking to E2 is a cinch. Any clueless luser can do that, just based on some EDC press kit. Sure, it'll send people to everything2.com, and maybe start them off on a noding frenzy. But does it make the person who put the link there a cool geek? Hell no.

But you know you've discovered a kindred spirit when you're surfing along in the world outside Everything, just reading, or shopping, or whatever, and you come across a suspiciously hyperlinked word. It's not www.buyexpensiveproducts.com, or even compare prices for digital cameras. And instinctively you know, before the pointer reaches that hyperlink, this guy is a noder.

Consider http://www.dansdata.com/smcf.htm, a pretty good review for a CompactFlash memory card reader, written by some Aussie digital camera enthusiast. After explaining how, in pre-USB days, you had to carry around your own diskette with driver, he says "If you put the card reader drivers on a memory card, you're likely to feel a bit of a dill." And links into Everything. A mundane outside page becomes a vortex to whisk surfers into The Everything Experience.

Another case in point is http://www.eye.net/links/20000427.asp, which really belongs in praise for Everything, but actually goes the extra mile and links to the reviewer's pet nodes: "Toronto, for example, returns 92 other nodes. Among them: Pizza Pizza (not to be confused with 967-1111), Ryerson, world-class, Wandering the Toronto Eaton Center, A Theory Towards a Greater Understanding of Getting a Good Smoked Meat Sandwich and bad sixties architecture." Half of them are dangling, or unnoded, though, which rather mars the effort.

When I get around to it, I'll search for some more links straight into the heart of Everything, to be listed and glorified here. Or you can /msg me.