[FFML] A thought on the future of the FFML

[Jorge A Pratt]

Brian Randall wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 9:52 AM, Mythril Moth

> > Exactly. Also, there is much to be said for centering/indenting/align-right
> > functionality, which are basic features to most word processing programs
> > that often fail in e-mail. Additionally, the ability to change the font face
> > and text color are useful in many instances. I'm not saying they're
> > NECESSARY, but...well, five minutes on my website will tell you I'm an
> > advocate of being able to apply more progressive formatting than plain text
> > e-mail allows for. =D
> 
> Sorry, I don't believe those things are necessary to tell a story for
> a heartbeat.  

> 
> If you're concerned that someone won't like your fic if it's not
> 'pretty' enough ... then that's a sign your fic needs work.

Mark Z. Danielewski would beg to differ. If an author pursues specific text formatting, very often it's not about making their story "pretty," but because the formatting has a storytelling purpose in and of itself. Especially on the Internet, where the Infinite Canvas applies not just to visual artwork but also to text.

Plus, MM already said that those things are "useful, but not NECESSARY," and a personal preference. It's poor form to call him out so harshly especially since he's not demanding it; at most, he's suggesting it. In dev speak, the difference between "requirement" and "nice-to-have."

>  The FFML
> is about comments and criticism.  If this approach drives off people
> who only want to read fic without commenting....
> 
> ...then that's freaking _ideal_, isn't it?

Calm down, guy. There's no need to vent steam like this, when no one else has resorted to personal attacks yet.
 
> Let those who only want to read get polished drafts later, that can be
> tarted up with all the html and media you want.  Let ourselves remain
> a community focused on the actual core of the writing, not get caught
> up in becoming part of the presentation mechanism.  I was irritated
> enough when someone told me that because they joined the FFML just to
> read, it had de facto become a place for distribution, and 'rough
> drafts' didn't belong there.

Fair enough, but don't let a constructive conversation be polluted by your personal irritation. Much less with members that have nothing to do with it.

Brian Randall wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Mythril Moth
> <mythrilmoth at mythrilmoth.net> wrote:
> >

> > So you're recommending bringing the mailing list into the present by leaving
> > it in the past?
> 
> So, spare all of us your indignant hypocrisy, Lurker.  There's a
> saying about 'handling the heat' and 'getting out of the kitchen', so
> if you  seriously can't take the treatment you casually bestow upon
> others, feel free to leave.  That being said, if you truly insist on
> sinking a potential constructive thread into one of your typical
> tantrum-driven flamefests, and being a personal herald of the list's
> genuine demise, you can give that a shot -- personally, I advocate
> strongly against it.

After following the entire thread from start to finish, I see the only person who ever brought flames into it was you. Considering Lurker himself was the one who started the thread, accusing him of trying to scuttle it is just weird.

But that's just me reading the thread in one go. Personally, I don't have a stake in the technical development of the list and/or its potential successors --I would like some HTML capabilities that even the most traditional novelists use, and my personal archives enjoy HTML styles and I've seen some very innovative uses of DHTML and AJAX purely for the sake of narrative, and I still feel constrained by 80-column widths and the lack of special characters (such as accents and tildes,) but at the same time I like the universal portability of plaintext. The fact is, the FFML is never going back to the late '90s, newcomers to fanfiction have probably never even heard of it, and with RAAC all but a forgotten fossil the list is mostly a C&C queue used by authors prior to "publishing" final drafts on personal websites. Whatever innovation can be brought to restore traffic and collaboration, if not membership, should be discussed openly and respectfully, without shutting down conversation with personal attacks. THOSE drive people away even more effectively than incompatible formatting or limited responses.

-- Jorge A. Pratt