Is it just Zen, or does there seem to be an inordinate level of hostility
on the ML over the past few days?

        I noticed, but I like hostility.

Everyone seems so snappish lately.

        They are, I would be too but I try not to post.

Kun-chan and Plunger are sniping at each other and other ML'ers, the others
are sniping back, and everybody seems to be taking offense at everything,
even when it was obviously meant in fun.

        Hard to say what's meant in fun these days.  Differences of opinion
are hard to blow off.  If someone were to fire at me I'd fire back
regardless of if they're smiling at me.  Hence one of the reasons I rarely
post.

There are sig wars on the horizon, Spam is at a high, and complaints are on
the rise again... the fics are few, and the C&C rarer, and Zen is getting
nervous.

        Daily traffic through here is about 120-150 messages a day.  I
barely find the time to check daily but when I do I skim through all of
them (titles aren't reliable).  In that first time though I delete all
obvious spam which I have no interest in, I delete most C&C since I haven't
gotten around to reading the fics yet.  The only things saved are fics, new
threads, and things I wish to reply to.
        I don't C&C because I'm backlogged, I don't post fics because of
what happened to my first and only finished fic, but by the same token I
don't spam.  I don't even post except under certain conditions.  I am
extremely anti-spam but I'm not going to go charging off on some fool
thread with a dozen responses to make my point.

Worst of all, poor White Wolf seems to bummed to care anymore.  That seems
like a bad sign.

        I just figured he was busy elsewhere, it happens.

Zen's ego is not particularly fragile, but he wonders, what happened to the
place where you could feel safe in posting a fic, knowing that even if
everyone hated it, they'd at least encourage you to improve.  And if you
were lucky, you might even get ideas on how.  What happened to the
*sharing*?

        Drowned out in favor of other tangents.  I'm here to read fanfics,
perhaps C&C a bit, and maybe even discuss fanfic related subjects.  At
least that's what I used to be here for, now I don't have the time for C&C
or fics or much else.  I don't even like to post since it always feels like
I'm talking to myself.  Friendship?  I really am happy you people are
making friends out there but that is not why this list was created.

Or maybe it's all in Zen's head and he just needs to get some sleep.

        I need sleep as well, this letter is all I have time for tonight.
It's 5am, I work at noon, the backlog grows.

Zen really really needs to know.

        Mousse doesn't need to know, Mousse just doesn't care anymore.

Sorry to take up your time.

Zen-  >_<

        That's okay, for me at least.  I liked your post... and no I don't
consider this thread spam because it deals with the list itself, the lack
of C&C, etc.  So I suppose my list includes:  Fics, C&C, ML discussion, and
items of interest to writers and readers of fanfiction... and I think using
spam to get story ideas doesn't justify the spam.

    /--=={ http://www.pixi.com/~mousse/ }==-----------------------/
   /                                                             /
  /              "Spam is for eating, not reading."             /
 /                                                             /
/------------------------------------=={ mousse@pixi.com }==--/