[NOTE:  This may be the second time you see this.  My first attempt to 
post this last night appears to have gotten lost somehow.  This was a 
response to Ed's post on the Hitomi incident.]

Ed,

Just wanted to thank you for writing such an intelligent, 
sympathetic response.  I feel almost exactly the same way you do:  
"Hitomi"'s personal life shouldn't have any bearing on her ability as a 
writer, or her participation in this ML.  I, for one, will miss her.

I also have played the "alternate identity" game.  In fact, for a while I 
had two identities on the FFML.  My real one (Richard Lawson is my 
real name, and all details I've revealed about myself are completely 
true) and another, completely fictional identity.  I even posted a story 
under this identity.  It was kind of fun, and also an experiment:  I 
wanted to see if people would like my stories even if they didn't come 
from the well-known "Richard Lawson".  Very much a Stephen King/Richard 
Bachman thing.  The response was surprisingly good, enough to prove the 
point to my satisfaction.

Still, I soon gave up the identity because I felt uncomfortable with 
the inherent deception.  I even responded to my friends under the 
pseudonym without revealing who I was.  That made me feel really low, so 
I stopped.  I also eventually confessed to my friends what I had done.  
They forgave me and were even slightly amused in going back to read the 
emails they had exchanged with my alter-ego.  This also lead to an 
in-depth discussion of the story I had posted under my alter-ego, which 
was a very different kind of story for me.

The attraction of an identity unfettered by the social stigma we 
may experience in real life can be very strong.  And, at least to me and 
from what I've seen on the FFML, "Hitomi" never did anything malicious 
with her pseudonym (other than bash the Catholic Church and claim 
that most Japanese held the same views she did).  It did sound like 
"Chris" was trying a real-life scam with Twister, but that shouldn't 
affect who "Hitomi" was on the ML.

When it comes right down to it, "Hitomi" was a good writer.  She 
was highly opinionated (her extreme dislike of the Catholic Church even 
made me, an atheist, a little angry) and could be quite prickly, but 
she produced some quality fanfiction.  As some who is also sometimes 
prickly and sometimes opinionated, I again can sympathize.

So I hope we don't all begin Hitomi-bashing.  In my mind, her 
personal life is irrelevant; the FFML exists to judge the writing, not 
the writer. 

And Ed, I hope to meet you someday in real life.  Any chance you'll 
be going to AnimeIowa?  Anime Central?  Akon?.  The online masks we use 
can lead to a satisfying existence, but I think face-to-face discussions 
are more rewarding.

-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com