The following occurred to me as I was out on my evening walk:

1) It's perfectly within anyone's right to dislike a fanfic and say so
publicly, reasons or no. It's appreciated, but not necessary, to provide
reasons why something isn't working out right. I myself have seldom read a
fic that I hated (Gonterman, Oscar, and Kefka come to mind as
counter-examples) and realize that not every work of fiction will be liked
by everyone, and that the fics I like are not likely to be exactly the same
as the fics others like.

2) Fan-fiction is, not surprisingly, written by fans. Fans are unable to
mentally link with the creator of a given series, and thus are unable to
portray the characters exactly as they were originally portrayed. This is
not to say that some writers don't come close, mind you. Different fans can
and will interpret different events different ways, or selectively ignore
some of the more minor quirks of the canon to paint a better picture of
their favorite characters. The better authors will recognize that their own
perceptions may differ from others and include material in their works to
justify or at the least allay criticism of a character's actions which may
be seen as divergent from canon. This doesn't mean retconning, necessarily -
fan-fiction should never be taken as canon - but introducing changes in the
story to modify the canon assumptions that the fan-fiction usually presumes.
The important thing - to me, at least - is that the characters are
internally consistent; that is, that their behavior is constant or at least
rationally changed throughout the story. Your mileage may vary... indeed,
many people will insist that fan-fiction stick close to the canon, sometimes
(but not always) when they feel their favorite characters have been
slighted. I catch very few internal inconsistencies in Lawson's "Thy Inward
Part", if any... the sticking point for the current debate seems to be that
the portrayals of characters don't exactly meld with the way Takahashi-sama
envisioned them. Which is bad for some people, ignored by others. It's all a
matter of opinion.

3) There are many people who are taking umbrage with Gubby for his opinions
as outlined in rules 1 and 2 above. He's perfectly entitled to take as
strict an interpretation of canon as he desires, and to hate a particular
fic for whatever reason he desires, and never to explain anything to us.
Though that last is a valid reason to at least question him on his opinions.
Which brings me to...

4) I considered the reasons why my hackles rise whenever Gubby posts
something, and came up with the following:

-- He seems to be willing to bend the language to mean what he wants, and
the implications are less than desirable. The most recent controversial
post, for example, implied that not only are Lawson's works written with the
deliberate and main intent to be denigratory to one or more of the canon
characters, but that Lawson himself agreed that his own works are wholly
invalid and utterly unbelievable. Gubby may not have MEANT us to interpret
his words that way, mind you, but that was certainly the way he came across
to me.

-- He has said on more than one occasion that a particular work of
fan-fiction is without merit, completely and irrevocably bad, to be scrapped
at once, et cetera, et cetera... and he has said this in an authoritative
manner, as if his opinion is the only one that matters and all readers are
to read or not read stories based on his standards. Saying HE dislikes a
work is one thing; saying that NO ONE should like it is completely
different. In addition...

-- He pre-judges entire genres to be completely without merit. Among these
are self-insertion, (anything beyond gaijin names and likenesses,
apparently) next generation, "continuation" (which I believe he uses to mean
any fic currently in progress), and, I believe, alternate universes. To
condemn all fics of any genre which have yet to be written (as he actually
did in one case) goes beyond the comments and criticism we expect from the
FFML and into the creation of a hostile writing environment... as Gubby
would not write if he did not expect to convince us of his views.

-- His remarks, at least as I have interpreted them, seem to indicate that
any anime (TV or OVA) or manga series, or indeed, any work of literature, is
"invalid", which I take as meaning without sufficient merit to justify
reading. He has said that any story which has gone on for a while without a
clear idea of where it is going is nothing more than an "exercise in mental
masturbation". Watch about ten anime episodes or read ten manga volumes of
any series, and tell me when and how the series is going to reach its end,
and what that end will be. Unless the series itself only runs for ten
episodes, or perhaps eleven or twelve, I rather doubt you'll be able to. Is
it then, according to Gubby's logic, nothing more than self-satisfaction on
the part of the author(s) and thus not to be taken seriously? And, if the
series does reach its end in the space of ten volumes... according to
Gubby's logic, the author(s) got bored with the work and decided to go no
further... doubtless invalidating the work as a whole, because it could not
have been seen through to its end, wherever that may be. I find it rather
difficult to believe that humanity has been writing for well over 2,000
years and that only recently has someone discovered that the entire library
of human fiction is completely without merit.

Now, I realize I've probably made a few mistakes in my interpretations of
Gubby's critiques. Feel free to correct me. But this is the state of things,
as I currently see them.

--G. Falconar