On Sun, 16 Feb 1997, Ki'var wrote:

[snip]

"B> I suppose this means that it's 'jumping through too many hoops' to go to,
"B> say, ftp.std.com to the anime fanfiction archive to pick up older fiction,
"B> instead of asking 'does anyone know where I can get a copy of
"B> <such-and-so>?'.
"B>

No, because using the remailer to obtain a file isn't the same as ftping
a file directly from ftp.std.com or any other ftp site. And if you think it
is, it shows just how little you know about using ftp to obtain a file.

And I just got done reading a post by Mr. Ty which commended the list
for not being crass or rude, but rather kind and caring.

You don't need to verbally abuse someone (which is what you did) to get
your point across.  Fine, you disagree that using the remailer and using
FTP aren't the same.  I think he meant that they both require a *little*
work, a little more than just posing and asking for the story.  But
YMMV.

"B> I admit that the fanfic remailer can be a pain.  But look at the sheer
"B> volume of people who asked for 'Transitions' recently.  The list could
"B> have been cut down on traffic rather impressively if people had just
"B> checked the remailer.  Or the people who posted 'could someone send me all
"B> the posts I missed since <x date>'... that's where the remailer really
"B> comes in handy.
"B>

Just who are you trying to kid? A lot of the traffic here consists of
nonsense postings from the IRC/AOL/USENET chat crowd and everyone knows
it. Personally I've always found any argument people make conserning message
traffic to be rather silly anyway. No one is forcing you to read these
messages. What I find absurd is messages that contain 24 or more
lines of "spoiler protection". These are the kinds of messages that
really eat up harddrive space ect,ect,ect....

No one is forcing us to read the FFML at all.  But we are here, for
better or for worse.  We come to read the stories, to socialize, and
perhaps to contribute a story of our own.  Now, I happen to have a 2400
baud modem, which means reading email is very *slow*, even though I'm
using a UNIX shell to do it and not trying to crrrawwll along with
SLIP/PPP.  It takes a second or so to delete each message asking for
transitions.  Or if I happen to be paging through the messages
themselves instead of the headers, it takes about five seconds.  Now, as
the original poster felt, that *is* wasted time.  He's asking, politely,
that people not do that and instead try to rely on FTP and the FFML
archive (the remailer is something else, and it's kinda dead in the
water as far as recent fanfics go, so far as I know) to retrieve what
they want instead of spamming the list.  It takes a couple of extra
minutes of time, and other people who *do* mind the excess traffic, even
if you don't, appreciate it.

Again, other people who *do* mind the excess traffic, EVEN IF YOU
YOURSELF DON'T, appreciate it.  Common courtesy can go a long way.

"B> Yes, if I have a copy of a fanfic handy, I'll send it to those people.  I
"B> kept Transitions on hand, so I've sent it out to a fair number of people. 
"B> 
"B> But in reply to your comment to 'keep your nose out of the thread'
"B> otherwise... people requesting copies of fanfics should never HAVE to be a
"B> thread in and of themselves...that's the point.

Are you serious, or just being an jerk? What pray tell is exactly wrong
with a thread consiting of people asking where so and so can be found, or
could someone send them a copy of it ? It's a heck of a more interesting
thread/subject some of the postings saying just how wonderful some
of the gay/lemon fanfics (bleh) are for instance...

It takes up time deleting it, or more time responding to it, that could
otherwise be spent doing something more productive.  Even if you can't
see a good reason why not, you could at least be considerate enough not
to flame the original poster.  Most of us, myself included, don't like
being called jerks.

Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^