At 06:47 PM 8/28/97 +0800, demonsword@vasia.com wrote:

However, now that I am back, I can only say what
I've seen the 3 days since I returned. It seems that I haven't 
seen too many of the friendly old discussions we used to have 
regarding fanfics, both our own and those that just flit across 
the list. Instead I'm seeing discussions about earthquakes and
headstrong newbies and furious old timers. 

<snip>

I'm hoping to discover what it is that you people
have been at, being together for all this time.
Maybe I should have lurked around for a while,
just to get a feel of what's changed in the list
for the long months that I was gone. But, true
to form, I charged right in, expecting the same
old messages and the same old good-natured
atmosphere that was a joy to breathe in.

I can't really say if something's changed, since
I haven't been back long enough, but I can
only hope that what I will see now is a thriving
community, the Vanguard of Fanficdom, and not
a bunch of writers who have lost their purpose
as a community.

Albercrombie is gone, Bert is gone, Panda and Saffie are supposedly still
here (they maintain the FAQ) -- but they are almost never heard from any
more, Uncle Fester is no longer going to post his major fic to the FFML,
Kun-chan doesn't post much anymore...  have they all found more important,
RL things to do, or are they all just put off by this list?

And now we have a slew of people, old and new, who claim that they, and only
they, know what should be written and how it should be written, a group of
writers who don't know how to take C+C in the spirit it is intended, a group
of writers who don't know how to give *constructive* criticism...   Of
course, none of that is new, but the list is so much more *serious* now, so
much less fun to be around (and "fun" does not necessarily = spam and other
off-topic posts)


One day, someone no one had ever heard of before ("Tybalt" - who has the
same address after the @ as WW) suddenly appeared on the list and announced
that he was WW's appointed moderator.  And Tybalt is inconsistant in the
extreme about what does and doesn't, and WHO does and doesn't, get moderated
- and has even, on occassion dredged up posts that are weeks old and have
died natural deaths to threaten people to stop talking about those subjects
they've already stopped talking about, on pain of permanent unsubbing

And from the time Tybalt arrived, this list has died in all important ways,
save ceasing to exist (and it's tried to do that a few times too)


Jeanne Hedge
http://www.accsyst.com/jhedge/
NEW Address: jhedge@wwa.com

_____
Girls do what their mothers tell them. Ladies do what society tells them.
Women make up their own minds.

The same thing applies to boys, gentlemen and men.

                                   - 'Consult Charity' advice column;
                                     "Katwalk", Karen Kijewski