Thomas Schmidt wrote:

      I just need to say that the following segment from White Wolf's recent MST
is the funniest damned thing I've ever seen:

I agree.

[snip]

      And to make this post have a BIT of meaning. When you are writing a fic,
read it back to yourself every now and then. ALOUD.  You'll find these
silly mistakes much easier.

Good idea.

      3rd person is ALWAYS in past tense, in case you didn't get it from the
above segment.

But this is wrong.  It's okay to write 3rd person in either present
or past tense; the important thing is to be consistent.  If you start
out in past tense, stay in past tense; if you start out in present
tense, stay in present tense.  Just don't switch between the two.
Thomas Schmidt
Tschmidt@trader.com

Maybe so.  But personally, I find third person/present tense to always
read like a synopsis, not a story.  For some reason it seems far less
immediate and involving than third person/past tense or either tense
in the first person.