Ayanami^Rei wrote:

<snip M. A. Page's post>

I love this Mailing List.  And no, that's not sarcasm.  Where else could
we find a never-ending stream of stories populated by favorite
characters long abandoned by their original creators, not to mention all
the great stories created for newer anime and manga?

However, whenever I see mail crop like this crop up on the list every
now and then, bashing a particular genre of fanfiction, especially
Ranma, I always start to feel a little... paranoid.  After all, I've
been working on my own Ranma series, Hearts of Ice, for over a year
now.  If people are getting bored with Ranma fanfiction, why am I
working so hard to finish this story?  Why am I wasting the time and
effort, when my family is continually pestering me to write something I
can get *paid* for?

After a moment, rationality reasserts itself, and I realize that I read
and write Ranma fanfiction, because *I* love it.  And, dang it, that's a
good enough reason for me. 

As long as fanfic authors remain individuals, each with their own life
experiences and persepctives, there will *always* be new stories to
tell.  And I can't help but cringe and shudder whenever anyone, whether
in the heat of the moment or not, advocates the narrow view that (blank)
fanfiction is good, and (blank) fanfiction is bad, boring, evil,
overwhelming in number, whatever.

Having stood by in silence many times before on similar threads, I feel
the need to break my silence and ask a small favor of the ML members. 
Please.  No more of this, okay?  If you don't like a certain genre of
fanfiction, don't read it, but don't give into the self-righteous desire
to try and impose that particular view on others.  It only stirs up
anger and hard feelings, and you won't change anyone's mind.

As Orson Scott Card once said, "My last book only sold 2,000 copies. 
That's 1/100th of 1% of the population.  In a nation of voluntary
illiterates, who needs censorship?"

Let's stop picking at each other, and instead enjoy this remarkably
unique venue for writing and reading stories that, otherwise, we would
never get to see.

Krista
(Why yes, I'm a "glass is half full" kind of person, why do you ask?)