On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:
You'd be hopelessly out-matched. But, if you want, post your fic and
I'll try not to disappoint. Just as long as you take pointers.
No, no, Gubby. YOU post your fic. The rest of us will decide whether it
sucks or not.
You know... perhaps we should wait and give him a chance. I myself am
very curious to see how he does.
I'll be honest: I am not pleased with the ML in general. I've seen it
grow increasingly closed-minded toward differing ideas, both from new
members to this list and older ones. This critic is no exception, as most
people will attest.
I've also seen a lot of people angry at him, and perhaps with good reason.
Personally, the only difference I've seen between him and a few others out
there is a lack of tact. I couldn't care less about tact; I would rather
someone were not nice, but gave a critique designed to help, rather than
hurt. Lawson's critiques are a fine example of this; he is very blunt on
occasion, but he offers solutions, rather than condemnations. He seeks to
help the author make the idea work rather than simply dismissing it
out-of-hand.
Somewhere, Always Man didn't learn this lesson, and he made several people
angry. Those who wanted nice critiquing didn't get anything from him;
those who wanted good critiquing didn't get anything from him. As such,
writers on all sides seek his blood.
When Gubby (under the name Gubby) was banned, a fellow writer made a
comment that perhaps the critiques were his way of testing the FFML, and
that we failed his test by banning him. This challenge here and now is a
test for us as well as him. Are we willing to give him a chance? If it
isn't good, are we willing to accept an apology from him?
Essentially, are we willing to show him greater mercy than he has shown
with us over the past few weeks?
Three weeks ago, I wasn't. I was filled with righteous anger. Problem
is, those two words are a misnomer. I wasn't willing to be merciful. It
took a lot of thinking, as well as reopening some rather unpleasant wounds
recently, to come to that.
Gary, I still think that what you did was wrong. However, for my handling
of it in a public forum, for trying to show your fault publicly, I
apologize. That was equally wrong, if not more so. Because I wasn't
willing to be merciful, I caused a flamewar that still has Tybalt leery of
me, and probably had more than a few people here wondering if I needed a
straitjacket.
Now, will you - ALL of you - try to show some mercy to him? Right now, I
get the feeling that some of you are already preparing the crosses for
him. Let it go - and see with unclouded eyes what this enfent terrible is
capable of.
Always Man, I wish you good luck. Considering your adversaries, I do
believe you may need it.
Gary
-- Nick