On Fri, 4 Sep 1998, Always Man wrote:

Kasumi looked up from the dishes she was washing, and stared into her
little sister's worried face. <Oh, she may deny it, but the truth is
obvious whenever they're together--just hurry, Akane-chan. I've always
liked younger men>.

That's interesting.

	<dead silence>

	It's also wrong.

	Kasumi likes *OLDER MEN*.  She *says* so right in the very first
chapter of Ranma 1/2.

Which is WHY it's interesting... just because someone SAYS something doesn't
necessarily make it so. There have been a few fics in recent memory where
Kasumi and Ranma have wound up together.... It may be entirely possible that
this is the Knows More Than She Lets On Kasumi of several fics, not the
least of which is Lawson's "Heart of the Home", and that she initially just
brushed Ranma off because she wanted Akane to be forced to see something
else about boys besides their desire to grind her into the ground and then
date her.

Of course, without sufficient in-story background, this presentation of
Kasumi is as invalid as the presentation of Ranma as Bearer of Zen Mindset.
The above would make a good opening to a fic where, say, Kasumi reflects on
her reasons for stepping aside, while Akane goes and talks to Ranma, Kasumi
either wincing at the sound of impact off-screen or letting out a vaguely
regretful sigh when she notices them coming back on speaking terms with each
other again. Again, with appropriate justification, ALL fic premises are
valid.

OOC doesn't mean that a character does something he normally
wouldn't--it's when a character is no longer recognizable as canon.

	Oh, the irony, oh oh the irony.  Gubby, you've demonstrated
that not only are you in no position to be making statements about the
validity of anyone else's writing ability, you don't know enough about the
characters to be calling *anyone* OOC.

Ooh, ad hominem argument. Fun.

Seriously, though, the above indicates that your credibility has been more
or less disintegrated, Guy Who Changes His Alias. Not only that, but people
are going to be awfully suspicious of ANYONE new who comes on and gives
negative criticism, and also of any fics you happen to like that aren't by
established authors. The question will always remain whether or not you've
simply changed your name again.

--G. Falconar, who earnestly believes that C&C which is not fleshed out is
as bad or worse than a fanfic of similar nature.