On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, Ryan Mathews wrote:

[...] I'll bet you given enough time, I could program an A.I. to
produce Ranma fanfic outlines.  The characters are that easy to
describe. 

Ok, now you've annoyed me Ryan.

The whole reason to write a fanfic is to add to what the original author 
created.  And if Rumiko Takahashi made shallow characters, then it's up 
to us to give them depth.  If fanfiction was about just writing another 
story exactly like the ones already written, I'd never have created this 
list.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but RANMA 1/2 is a slapstick comedy.  
It's supposed to be funny.  :-)  Again, emotions are not what I'm 
referring to when I say "depth".

Granted.  If emotion was depth, Ranma 1/2 would be a very deep story.

First, I'm not angry.  I could care less, actually, since I'm not a big 
enough fan of RANMA to bother reading those 'fics.  I don't mean to 
upset anyone; after all, if you didn't like DIRTY PAIR, I wouldn't 
expect to read my DP stories.

But that's the whole point!  It works both ways.  I read your fics, then I
went and watched Dirty Pair.  I watched Ranma 1/2, and then went to read
the fanfics.  Why must it be a one way street?  For some anime, there are
more fanfic stories than there are anime. 

detracts.  My number one goal is to get people to read my work, and to 
accomplish that, I need people reading fanfic.  If potential readers 
who aren't RANMA fans log onto r.a.a.c and for days see nothing but 
RANMA 1/2 stories, some of them are going to quit.  It helps everyone 
to have a wide variety of universes for the reader to choose from.

So you're afraid you'll get lost in the flood?  Think about those of us 
who *do* write Ranma fics.  How the hell do I make mine stand out?  The 
*only* way to have people notice you is to write well.