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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: Knights of the True Fiancee Final.txt
Knights of the True Fiancee:
Fact and Fiction
Nearly everyone in Ranma fan fiction community has heard of
the infamous
Knights of the True Fiancee. They are reputably the most long-lived
group
in all of Ranma fan fiction community if you go by their notoriety.
To many
of us, they have apparently been around forever: a shadowy group
that
defends Akane with brutal and vicious tactics, has no regard for
property or
propriety, and drives authors into hiding in fear. Rumors of their
existence are whispered across forums, hidden in fanfics, and
muttered on
private websites. According to these rumors, they strike out at
anti-Akane
authors, flooding their email boxes with viruses, spam, and hostile
personal
attacks. They regularly invoke Takahashi to shout down anyone who
so much
as writes Akane in an even slightly unfavorable light. They are
willing to
hack websites, smash cars, and hound people across the Internet.
And, for
all of their villainous deeds, they leave almost no trace of their
existence. They are an intrusive group without peer in our fan
fiction
community with skills that would put most hackers to shame.
It is with this in mind that I decided to research them and
find out the
truth behind this group which has apparently plagued fan fiction
since
before many of us even began to read it. Over several weeks, I
researched
the Knights of the True Fiancee, searching for the truth behind this
organization. [s1]These are my findings.
The Knights of the True Fiancee came into existence on
Tuesday, January
14�th, 1997 on the Ranma Mailing List. It was founded by Laura
Louise
Stoffer (AKA Laura Saotome) during her time at Whitman college as a
joke and
as a social group. At the time, it was one of many such groups
being
founded in jest on the Ranma ML. This group was never a tightly
knit one,
most joining simply for the generic fun of arguing with the
Worshipers of
Shampoo and for just having a longer signature on their Mailing List
posts
(the more common reason stated). It lasted for a few years,
sputtering out
in late 1999 as its founder and organizer moved on to other things.
It is
currently completely defunct, only existing in outdated web pages
(http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/3876/KTF.html : Last updated
April
2001)) and archives of e-mails from years ago. In other words,
there is
currently no active group bearing the name Knights of the True
Fiancee; nor
has there been such a group for several years.
The Knights of the True Fiancee has not only been dead for
years but were
never the vicious group that they are reputed to be. They are not
hackers.
They are not flamers. I�d doubt the average Knight could hack their
way out
of a paper bag, much less actually take down a website. Their
reputation is
wholly undeserved and has been blasted into legend by rumor
spreading and
the actions of several authors who would idly mention being attacked
by them
in reference to any Akane fan.
During my research into this group, I sifted through dozens
of reported
�incidents� of the Knights of the True Fiancee, contacting dozens of
supposed victims of their harsh flames and viruses. Many were
helpful
enough to provide email logs, review boards, or other still existing
evidence of the supposed attacks. Reading through them though,
there is
little evidence of any of them being a group attack and no evidence
associating them with the Knights (save for the common trait of
favoring
Akane). Most reports of the Knights of the True Fiancee stemmed
from the
actions of known troublemakers, such as Kaiphantom or Peter Suzuki,
who have
never been associated with the Knights of the True Fiancee.
As of right now, there is no Knights of the Fiancee
organization. The only
thing that remains of them is a long trail of rumors, hearsay, and
outright
lies regarding their existence. Naturally, one is left to wonder
how these
rumors got started and spread to such a degree that even now they
are
brought up in forums and websites for their �Internet terrorism�.
In my
research, I searched for the starting point for the proliferation of
the
�Knights of the True Fiancee� as such a meme. The research has
pointed most
strongly at the scenario described below, but, due to the nature of
rumor
proliferation, it cannot be verified with absolute certainty even
though
several objective sources came to this conclusion independently over
the
course of the research.
In June of 1998, Gary Kleppe and Gregg �Metroanime� Sharp on
the FFML had a
dispute over the usage of criticism regarding �Neutral Ground�.
Gary
Kleppe, who has since then become an FFML moderator and was a known
Akane
fan, was recruited into Gregg Sharp�s pre-reading group following
praise of
his previous release: �The Art�. Gary, upon receiving the fanfic
�Neutral
Ground� from Gregg, swiftly returned C&C noting various problems,
including
simple spelling errors. Shortly after, Gregg released �Neutral
Ground�,
ignoring all of Gary�s comments and posting the same rough draft as
the one
he sent it to his pre-readers. This, needless to say, upset Gary
quite a
bit, causing a small scene in which Gary declared that he would not
be
sending any C&C to Gregg after the incident. Following this
directly onto
Gregg�s website at the time, one began to see several idle
accusations
tossed out regarding attacks done by the Knights of the True
Fiancee.
Included among these were rumors of flames, website hacking, and
various
other more subtle comments intimating that his own anti-Akane
leanings were
the result of vicious attacks from the Knights. Later, following a
slight
disagreement from Gary Kleppe over the Akane-bashing in �A Little
Sense�,
further rumors began to appear regarding the advocacy of
manga-thumping
KoTF. From these relatively humble beginnings, the rumors of the
�Evil
Knights of the True Fiancee� grew. Comments from Jared �Skysaber�
Ornstead
and, later, Hung �AnimeAddiction� Nguyen gave these rumors more
credibility
and they further proliferated through forums and emails, passed
along by
both the likely unthinking starters and their hordes of fans.
Through word
of mouth, the rumors of the Knights came to be treated as fact by
many in
the Ranma fan fiction community. Where the words of a single
temperamental
writer, would not have been taken as fact by many of us, the slow
and almost
ever-present way others parroted it, turned it into an evil
organization
that dominated every forum of Ranma fan fiction.
In conclusion, the Knights of the True Fiancee no longer exist as
anything
more than the victims of a long and despicable rumor campaign that
never had
anything to do with them in the first place.
********************
I would like to thank the numerous individuals who assisted me with
my
research and provided their time to answer my questions regarding
the group.
Firstly, I�d like to thank Pavel, who provided his database of
every FFML
post ever made, lent his skills to examining the truth behind the
KoTF, and
assisted by pre-reading this article prior to publishing. Secondly,
I would
like to thank the FFML Moderation squad, who gave their time to be
interviewed regarding the history of the group. Finally, I would
like to
thank Rakhal and the numerous fan fiction writers and readers who
provided
their time and energy to helping me find out the truth of this
group.
Copyright 2003 Philip �Dracos� Bloom
This article may be freely distributed, provided that its integrity
is
maintained. That is, it should be distributed in its entirety and
without
any changes.
[s1]
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