On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Jeanne Hedge wrote:

At 09:47 PM 7/18/97 -0400, Tybalt wrote: 

Is it allowable to ask this list about writing fanfics if anyone knows who
wrote a certain fanfic?  Please remember, this is NOT a fic request.  It is
a request for information about a fic.  Quite a different thing.

My gut reaction is to say no, it isn't. Why? Mostly because it gives a
easy loophole for people to request fics by. (Who wrote Ranma and Mihoshi
and Ethel the Aardvark go Quantity Surveying, Vol 2, and can I have a
copy?)

Your gut reaction says 'no', but what is your thinking reaction?

What thinking reaction? o.o ;)
 

Trouble is, if you let one person do something, everyone
else thinks they can too. The inncessant barrage of requests would go on,
and on.... you really should be able to find out things like that here,
and I'm sorry that it isn't the case.

I'm not asking to let one person do something, I'm saying that everyone
should be able to request information (not fics) as needed.  This 'who is
the author' info request is no different than a 'how do you say father in
Japanese' request or a 'what is the street layout in Nerima' request?  (and
it might actually cut down on fic requests, as people on the list will then
have the info they need to directly contact the author to get said fic)

The above questions will help the author write his fanfic. The 'who's the
author' won't.

I agree with you above, when you say 'you really should be able to find out
things like that here' but your reasons for saying that people cannot ask
for needed information really don't make a lot of sense to me.

The basic point is that people with just substitute fic requests with "who
was the author" notes.

This sort of reminds me of last year when there was a short-term ban on new
list members being allowed to post on-list because they might spam.  Problem
was, the newbies weren't spamming, the long-time list members were.  And
because what the 'oldies' were doing, the newbies got punished for something
they had not done, hadn't even had the chance to do, and might never have
done in the first place.

Yup, remember that.

By saying 'no' to requesting information about an author because someone
*might* do a fic request at the same time is the same thing - you are
punishing people for something they haven't done.  Punish the people who do
fic requests if you must, but don't punish everyone else.

*shrug* You're asking for fairness, which is a bit of a luxury.

1. - Mail the request for fic/information along with something else. If
you ask for a fic at the beginning of your C&C of a recently posted work,
I don't mind one bit. You can send out just about anything - test message,
fic request, what have you - as long as it's attached to something that
should be on the list. Note that this doesn't mean that you can send a
post like "Ranma and Bob Dole vs the Thing From Planet X-7 was cool, I
really liked it. Can someone send me Sailor Moon Dust Clouds Part 7?" It
has to be real, honest to God C&c.

But that doesn't get me anywhere.  What if I'm C+Cing one kind of fic, but
want to know about another kind of fic, and the audiences are mutually
exclusive?  (ex: I C+C BGC but want to know who wrote a Sailor Moon fic -- I
don't know enough about Sailor Moon to C+C it -- the audiences aren't
exactly compatible -- many BGC-ers I know refer to Sailor Moon as 'Satan'
Moon).  The odds are that the one group isn't going to read my question and
the other group won't know the answer.

If you know nothing about SM, not even enough to C&C it, why on earth
would you be looking for an SM fic?

Also, it sounds like you think everyone reads every bit of C+C and other
material that comes down this list. I read fics, but only the ones I'm
interested in.  I don't read C+C that other people are giving to other
writers, or any other material for that matter, unless it's something I'm
*very* interested in.  I don't have time to do otherwise, and many other
people are in the same situation.

Admittedly not everyone reads the C&C posted. Those are the breaks.

2. Ask us. If our helpful and occasionally courteous staff doesn't know,
we might actually post it to the list for you.

I'd like to know who the "staff" is.  For that matter, I'd like to know who
the Moderator is, since s/he just sort of appeared one day, announcing s/he
was moderator, and many people (not just me) had never heard of him/her before.

I'm Tybalt. I'm the Moderator.

I've been on the FFML for quite a while. I was here when Psychowolf began
his career, when the AGMA Band wasn't occasionally dead, and when People
were still wondering how that 'Putting Your Heart In The Right Place'
thingie would end.

Here's a suggestion, and it's easy to implement - just implement 'no fic
requests'.  So, using your example, "Who wrote 'Ranma and Mihoshi.....' ?"
is acceptable because it is not a fic request, but "Who wrote 'Ranma and
Mihoshi.....' and can I have a copy?" is not and will get you yelled at.

Hmm.

I don't think it will cause any more problems than we already have (btw - I
do not think you will ever totally get rid of fic requests, whatever you do
-- some people simply refuse to read the FAQ.  Any FAQ)

Yeah. I've noticed.

Okay... someone mailed me a very intelligent idea a little while ago...
I'm going to consult my better half on how viable it is, and get back to
you all on the policy. For now, no requests, no info.

Jeanne Hedge

OLD address:  jhedge@waterw.com
NEW address:  jhedge@wwa.com