<AHEM>

Nicholas Leifker wrote:

Gary, your reasoning is noble, but horribly flawed.

The flaw in your reasoning is very simple.  You are using your own, HIGHLY
BIASED opinions of Ranma 1/2 (your description of them, not mine) to color
your arguments, and as a result you're stifling the creativity of the
writers of theis ML.

. . .hm. I must be a pretty crumby judge of character to have a guy like
that helping me run FFIRC, where all fanfiction gets C&Ced.
 

People will interpret the characters and their motives in different ways.
I see a man who would rather give up his eldest daughter's childhood than
help her out one iota with the housework.  You see someone who would take
up cooking.  This difference of opinion is natural; this is normal.  And
yet, you have attacked the characterization of others on the basis that it
is different from your own.  

. . .what else are we supposed to base it on, Nick? We do have the
original Manga, but that doesn't mean we know the characterisations that
the author has. We gott be able to draw something from it, and when we
can't we draw something from -ourselves- to fill the gap.
I happen to think Ukyou has a rather soft spirited family if I were to
write about them, simply because of the 'two or three lines' her father
utters in the Manga. Why do I think that? Because to me, there wasn't
enough there to extract, so I had to fill in some gaps. So I typically
use my views on characters and compare whenever I get the chance to sit
down and critique(as rare as that is these days) because I don't have
anything else.

And 'attacking' is kind of strong.

Moreover, you react to my own pointing of this
out is by saying that this is your own interpretation of Ranma, and that as
such it is worthy of respect.

It should be in the eyes of the civil, otherwise he wouldn't be working
with me.
 

This is your hypocricy.

Mind you, it's not your only one; there are a couple in items in recent
posts that I will point out later tonight.  However, this is the one that
is causing the most damage to fanfic writing, so I feel it necessary to
expound on it.

Charging someone with 'damaging' is pretty serious. You'd have to go
pretty far out of your way to inflict upon a passtime that involves no
money.
 

Sir, it is a noble gesture to say that you would like the characters to
remain true to Takahashi.  However, there is only one person who is capable
of staying true to the characterizations of Ranma 1/2, and she's writing
Inu-Yasha now. 

And there is only one person who -knows- those characterisations, too.
So technically speaking, she would be the only one who could CRITIQUE a
story legitimately, let alone write the damn thing.

  (And no, it's not Krista!  ^_^  )  Truth to tell, I know

of several people who would have disagreed with your stories IN GENERAL on
the basis that 'serious' Ranma fanfiction is going away from what Takahashi
intended.

And why did those people think that? Because the felt after
reading/watching Ranma(whatever) that there wasn't enough information to
support that view in the manga/anime, so they filled in the blanks with
their own views.
 

I argued with them then; I argue with you now.  You cannot claim that your
interpretations of Ranma are 'correct characterization', and go around
discrediting other works on that basis - not without tarnishing your own
honor.  I merely showed you what you have been giving others all this time,
and you react with the very same defenses that others have given you - a
defense that you have often ignored.

Fanfiction thrives on the fact that we take the roads that Takahashi
DIDN'T.  It lives on diversity and fresh, innovative ideas on the
characters.  These are the roads you walk, and the roads that you seek to
close to others with your slander.

Man, Gary. To hear some talk about you, I wonder if I should let you go
from FFIRC. . .You seem to be a pretty big jerk.

Slander is pretty strong, Nick.

Not to mention Gary isn't exacly double posting and spot targetting
people with his C&C, or email people on the side with a crtitque and
they haven't even read the story.
He's not beating you over the head with his ideas. Quite the opposite.
If he writes, and you C&C him, he will most doubtedly talk/yell back as
you for as long as you do. He didn't say in his story 'this is right, so
suck on it,' or in any follow up. He waited for someone else to have
something to say. If he critiques, then he usually does it once, then
stops. If the author replies, then Gary typically will to(I'm guessing
here Kleppe.) If the author doesn't reply, then Gary doesn't do anything
else. He doesn't follow up if he doesn't get a reply.

[gary: dammit, he still hasn't answered my C&C. I better email him 5
more times and ask what the hell is wrong with him. . .]

That is the difference here. Gary can be quite belligerant in his views.
Hell, I can be too, and I think we all know a couple other authors that
though they may write beautifully, as a person, they may take the story
entirely too seriously in our views, and be belligerant to others
because of how close to heart they feel about it. But even those fellows
cork it if there is no reply from the other end.

I like Ucchan. I don't lead a campaign to beat it in your head that
she's cool, and i'm sure most Ukyou churches exist for -other people-
who -like Ucchan.- 

If you goto the Kuno museum and you hate Kuno, then thats kinda dumb.
And the Kuno Museum people don't bomb your email with Kuno pics or
something.

He's not closing roads with his remarks, however strong they may be.
Basically, he's debating. If you be quiet, then typically he'll be
quiet. . .for a little while, then he'll start making bad puns.

I will be honest: I showed no joy in attacking your characterization.  

[NICK: AHAHAHA! Your view of Ranma's whimsical side is so horrbily
flawed it makes the Liberty Bell seem 'a little worn!']
[laughs with an insane glee}

Ranma to be together eventually can come to fruition.  Of course, you are
allowed to use your own interpretation... provided you do not chastise
others for theirs.

Well. . .chastise, hm. That was a word GT and my sunday school teacher
used alot whenever we played with the kids after mass. So basically,
Gary is reaching through cyber-space, grabbing your hand from the
keyboard, and smacking it soundly.

Don't get me wrong here, Nick. I'm not badmouthing you. Far from it,
because you oft present a neat angle on some fics. But I think you gotta
realise that Gary isn't an 'enemy' to fanfiction.

There are no 'enemies' to fanfiction here on the FFML. If you attack
someone as being an enemy to fanfiction then chances are -you- are
probably the one doing the most harm.

Why do I say this? Because we HAVEN'T HAD an 'ENEMY' to fanfiction, so
we have no idea what he would be like. But you know what? I bet he
wouldn't wait for you to say something or do something to hurt
fanfiction, he would attack first.

God forbid we ever do have an Enemy exposed to FFML. It would blow alot
of people's minds because they have no comparison to an enemy of
fanfiction. White Wolf's regulation of FFML has pretty much given us a
Utopia for this kind of passtime, except for the spam which creeps up
like weeds.

But thats what Tybalt is here for.

The Tybal 4000 weed-whacker.

. . . I'll be going back to my sequencing now.

And everyone- keep writing!

-TJ
-CSY head
-FFIRC head