I'm gonna second this. I realize that I'm only slightly more  
tolerated around here than CKK and my opinion is just about  
worthless, but Lurker has a point. ff.net is killing the FFML.

Unfortunutly, I don't know of any way to fix it short of those of us  
with ff.net accounts pimping the FFML every time we post a fic or  
chapter in the author's notes.

Option two: Open the list to other fandoms besides those out of  
Japan. That's always been the hole in this whole affair. We're the  
FanFiction Mailing List, but we're restricted to  Anime, Manga and  
Japanese Live Action. God knows I'd like to get some crit on some  
Marvel, DC, and WB Animation ideas, not to mention Harry Potter.  
Knowing I can't post those here and get serious feedback kinda takes  
the wind out of the sails, you know?

It really is, isn't it? We still get some good, long-running fics  
posted
here--a couple multicrossovers that seem to be fairly popular,  
Nowack's
exceptional Naruto fic, Megane's MSTings, Lawson's recent return,  
and the
like--but the general amount of traffic IS down lately, and it's  
not because
of the moderation--it's because of McBurger Syndrome.

For those not familiar with the term--although it should be pretty  
obvious
and self-explanatory--McBurger Syndrome is basically this:

For years, a small mom-and-pop diner is THE popular local hangout.  
It has
the best hamburgers in town, a friendly atmosphere, a jukebox, damn  
good
malts, everything.

Then, a McDonald's puts into the neighborhood.

Suddenly, within a couple years, the only people eating at the  
diner anymore
are the old-timers who eat breakfast and lunch there, or who hang  
out there
all day not actually doing much business, talking with the owners  
and each
other about the way things used to be. Sure, you get the occasional  
random
new customer--business isn't so bad as to warrant actually shutting  
the
place down--but the cash register's looking mighty lean and the  
owners find
they're ordering half as many supplies per month as they used to,  
simply to
avoid having so much to throw away.

The FFML (and to an extent, rec.arts.anime.creative) are the "Pop's  
Diner"
of the fanfiction world. Fanfiction.net is the McDonald's. Today's  
fanfic
authors want instant gratification and aren't especially interested in
getting honest, helpful reviews of the stuff they write--which is  
why they
flock to FF.net, where the most godawful piece of crap ever written  
can get
at least a dozen "lol luv ur fic rite mor plz" reviews within a day.

Meanwhile, the rest of us old fogies sit around reading our  
newspaper and
eating the occasional big, juicy bur---err, reading the occasional  
really
good, long fanfic and complaining about how it just ain't like the  
good old
days anymore.

FF.net is the McBurger of the fanfiction community, and is pretty much
what's been killing the FFML slowly over the last few years.

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