[Subject snipped a bit]

MegaZone wrote:

1. Bad formatting.  Simple as that, lines like this one I'm
doing deliberately that are longer than 80 columns or that
have seemingly random line wrapping.  It makes it a bitch
to read, and what it does for me is make me think "If the
author couldn't take the time to do something as simple as
format the text, I bet they didn't take the time to write a
good story."

This is rather poor reasoning.  Bad formatting is usually a
software problem and has nothing to do with the ability to
write a good story.  If you get an unreadable story, send a
polite note to the author telling him the problem.  Chances
are he has no idea that anything's wrong.

Yes, exactly right.  When I posted my first fanfic to the FFML, my lines
were wrapped badly and I used some non-ASCII characters.  Someone wrote me
back and politely informed me of the correct formatting procedures (and
politely informed me that Kasumi would *not* say "Nabiki-oneesan").  This
was all news to me, and I very gratefully accepted the advice.

A little polite correction can go an awful long way.

-- David

-Richard