At 03:07 PM 8/18/96 -0500, you wrote:
On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Stephan Bennett wrote:
Frankly, I don't see why you have taken such large offence. There are
things called
filters, and there's a button with the word "delete" upon it. Use these
options if, in
the future, a thread annoys you.
True. I often do. But it's annoying when out of, say, two hundred
messages in my in box, one hundred twenty of them are ones that I'd want
to delete after a cursory scanning at best. And it does take time,
especially if there's two separate branches to a thread, one of which is
comments and criticism and the other of which is noise.
Spam is on this list. Irrelevant topics, joking posts. Light hearted
humor at best.
Annoyances that you can skip over when not interested at worst. If you
can't accept
this, then perhapse RAAC is the place for you. I've been there. It's
not bad. More
sterile, I suppose.
Or more relevant, on-topic, and efficient, from another point of view.
The thing is, though, there seem to be two basic views of this list
around. One is that it should be a list for fanfiction and criticism,
with a certain amount of digression from the topics stemming naturally
>from discussion, but kept to a sane and moderate level. The other seems
to be that this should be a Shampoo-must-die-and-Hibiki-family-genetics-
and-weather-reports-and-in-jokes-and-welcoming-old-list-members-back-and-
various-huge-amounts-of-directionless-discussion-and-joking-around list
with the occasional bit of fanfic and C&C on it to serve as seeds for the
social stuff. As I've said before, some of us are on this list not
because we like the 'SPAM', but because we want to read interesting fan
fiction and try to help improve it. And I've noticed that now that RAAC
is back up, people *are* leaving the list due to the volume level and low
signal-to-noise ratio. I'm still hanging in there for one reason or
another, but I realize that it would make my life a bit easier to deal
with if I didn't have to spend so much time going through email each
day... Really, for me at least, and for a fair number of others, the only
viable options are eventually going to be to either convince this list to
rein itself in a bit (seemingly an utterly futile task) or leave for
someplace that better suits our needs - RAAC, for instance, or a fanfic
list someone will create that enforces on-topic discussion. (That's not
such a far-out idea, you know - I could easily see a fanfic list that
doesn't let itself descend so far into irrelevance, and there's doubtless
people out there who might like to create one...)
Scott, in theory, I would tend to agree with much of what you say
in this post. However, I feel it important to point out a few relevant
factors you have either overlooked or minimized.
First of all, you are correct in referring to this ML in terms
that make it a 'writers workshop'. In just about every way, it certainly
fills that role. However, a writers workshop is much more than just a
group of people writing stories and being reviewed by others. As in
every writers workshop I have ever attended (since 1966) there has
*always* been a great deal of spammy discussion that surrounds the
more serious activity of writing and reviewing. It tends to give
the workshop its ambiance, its feeling that you are amongst friends who
care about you enough to be honest without being brutal in their
evaluations of your literary attempts. Personally, I would rather have
someone I like zap my stories than a stranger where I wouldn't know when
he is kidding or not. By listening to all the 'spammy' comments, I get
a feel for the types of personalities there are among the 200 friends
(I like to think) I have out there on the ML. Above all else, when
someone writes me a review or comments in any way on my works, I want
to believe its coming from a friend who's not dismissing me and my work
as worthless crap but helping me think of how I can improve.
I love the Kun-chan 'baps'. I like the off-beat humor of P-word.
I revel in the threads like: The Fanfic Olympics or the ideas of unusual
pairings or weird cross-overs. In every piece of 'spam' there's something
that can spark a writer to think of a new direction for some anime
characters. I see the 'spam' as more inspiration than annoyance. Okay,
sometimes a few go a little overboard. But that's part of the creative
process too. Creative people *have* to push the envelope of creativity
to reach new levels of their own. They *have* to go overboard sometimes
to find out just where the boundries are. And those boundries are
constantly moving.
Perhaps I feel this way because I'm probably the oldest person
on this ML. At my age, 44, you tend to mellow out a little more and
become more accepting to the excesses of youth. For me, those excesses
are what makes the young stimulating to be around. I believe the good
mix of young and old, American and others, college educated and the
not-quite-there-yet are what makes this ML worth being a part of.
Do what you want, Scott. Personally, I hope you stay around
and, for crying out loud, keep writing. Life's too short to worry
about a little 'spam' in your ML diet. It won't kill you and, I'm
quite certain, it won't hurt your ability to produce fine stories.
Take a few moments and listen to the pulse of this ML. You might
just find a good story buried in all the irrelevancies.
Sorry to ramble. I'm just practicing for when I have
grandchildren.
- Uncle Fester
(Way too spammy for his own good.)
Greg Sandborn (aka: Uncle Fester)
Home on the range at: sandborn@microlink.net
sandborn@burnsmcd.com
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Pushing the envelope of fan fiction till my stamp gets canceled.