Subject: [FFML] Concern for the List
From: the_man_with_the_machinegun@juno.com
Date: 1/2/2000, 5:59 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

I will admit, to start with, that I am not exactly very verbal about 
anything on the FFML. This is due to phobia of being mocked and ridiculed
for any ridiculous ideas/posts I may send to the mail boxes of the many
hundreds
of list members out there. 

But I do feel that I should voice my concern for the future of the FFML. 

I know I'm not one of the greatest authors on this list, and, as far as 
I know, only a handful of people even give my work time to breath (and 
I know there are probably people who read what I write and just don't 
reply to it in any form. Due to work and other variables, I tend to only
have time to sit down, read a chapter from a story I'm following, and
then 
get ready for whatever the day has in store for me)

I enjoy fan fiction. I enjoy writing it, reading it, encouraging others
to 
do the same if they feel that it would be a reasonable use of their free 
time. I've noticed, though, on those rare occasions when I have time to 
go over the two-hundred or so messages I get per day, that spam is
filling 
the list quite quickly. Now, I have no real problem with spam, but the 
topics I've been seeing... Some of them have no business even being on 
the list, and I find it comforting that the administrators hop directly 
onto this unwelcome topic and bring it abruptly to an end. 

That said, I wont deny that I am guilty of posting quite a bit of spam,
but 
I haven't done it in quite some time, and I try to make sure that all 
responses to said spam come DIRECTLY to me. 

Some people, I've noticed, have over reacted just a tad (You know who you

are, Lurker), and rather that ask politely that the list not "slide
deeper
into the pits of Hell", they raise commotion and only fuel the flames of 
agitation and spam that hits the list. Most of the mail in my box tonight

was spam, and I had somewhere in the area of 200 messages. 

I'm not trying to say that spam should be totally vaporized from the face

of the FFML. The replies I've got on my questions about the Hiryuu Shoten
Ha
were, indeed, extremely helpful. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if
you 
must spam, try to make it constructive. 

I don't want to see the FFML destroyed due to pointless, off-topic
nonsense. 
This list is one of the few places that my work is, for the most part,
taken
seriously. There are a few "Flamers" who never, and I do mean NEVER, have

anything good to say about my work, but then there are those who hold the

same piece of work very highly. Everyone deserves a chance. 

If things continue the way they are, I'm almost afraid that a decision to

shut the list down totally will be made, and since I have no access to
the 
Internet (only free e-mail) I have no other way to show people what 
I am capable of, and I'm sure there has to be many others who feel the
same. 
(If not... Then I speak for myself)

So, to close, I only ask that people consider what they are sending to
the 
FFML list before they click 'send'. There must be plenty of news groups
that would, in all probability, handle whatever it is they are posting
much better than the FFML (if it is not what is considered to be on
topic).   
 

I thank you all for your time, and I hope the Millennium sees you all
well. 

Best regards and wishes, 

James
'The Man With the Machinegun'                       

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the last time, I am NOT the guy who did fat 
bastard in the new Austin Powers film... Hey... 
you kinda look like a baby...."
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