Richard

I almost developed a form letter to send to people who sent me C&C.  I
ended up writing almost the same thing anyway.  I stopped myself,
though.  It seemed so impersonal.

-----------------------CUT HERE ALONG DASHED LINE-----------------------

***THIS IS AN APPROVED "REPLYING TO C&C" FORM***

                        THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME C&C!
                        -----------------------------

        Thank you ______________ for sending me Comments/Cricitism
on the following fic : ________________________.

        The purpose of this form is to inform you that I have read
your C&C and

1) Liked it but won't use it             [ ]
2) Liked it and WILL use it              [ ]
3) Indifferent to it                     [ ]
4) Hated it, and now I want to flame you [ ]
5) Deleted it                            [ ]
6) Deleted it by accident                [ ]
7) Learnt that the server had eaten it   [ ]
8) Dog named ____ ate it after printing  [ ]
9) Ate it, with ketchup and fries        [ ]
10) Passed it along to someone else      [ ]
11) ____________________________________ [ ]

You said :

        <paste comments/criticism here>

I reply :
        


        Again, thank you, _______________ for your time and I hope
to hear again from you.  Remember, use only approved "Replying to
Replies to C&C" forms.        

                        Signed : _________________________

***THIS IS AN APPROVED "REPLYING TO C&C" FORM***
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Then again, silence can be impersonal

        Silence is golden.

        NO, seriously, there is no need for long 20min replies to
C&C if you have no time, Richard.  Just send something like "I've
read your C&C and I'll use/not use it.  Thanks, and I'll see if I
have time enough to reply to this in more detail!"

        <or something to that effect>

        Then, when you have time, you take the time out to reply
to those that you see fit to reply to.

        Using a form is VERY impersonal, and in some ways worse than
just silence.  In silence, thought is founded and thought is given
to the possibility that the author might be tied up in RL (figuratively,
not literally mind you) and just does not have the time to reply to
your C&C.  If, after a period of four weeks, the author does
not reply to you, one might assume that he/she had forgotten to
reply to you - or, as in your case, Richard, won't reply because
he/she doesn't see the need to.

        Forms are for governments, credit card applications and the
revenue department, not for singular-entity human beings with a penchant for
producing literature based upon another piece of literature
from a different culture.

        It could just be my distrust of all things bureaucratic and 
red tape but there it is.