[FFML] [ANNOUNCEMENT] The end of the FFML

[Weiss Schnee]

>I remember discovering this mailing list while getting into Ranma 1/2 and
> Tenchi Muyo fanfiction, then getting my first email account with hotmail
> specifically to join this list back around '98.  Read a ton of good 
> stories
> from this list, even managed to post some at best (if you're reallly 
> drunk)
> mediocre ones.

I posted a lot of fanfics to this list while I was drunk. Lots. Anyone 
remember them?

> Thanks for all of the hard work you've put into this list and most
> importantly for putting the forethought into packing up the archive into a
> zipfile as too much of yesteryears internet has disappeared into the
> digital aether.  I'm sure all of us can think of atleast one fanfiction
> website that just disappeared before they could think of backing up their
> favorite stories.

Too many fanfic sites have completely disappeared.

> So as others have done I'll add a couple of the forums that I've been
> frequenting for fanfiction and discussion:
> https://forums.spacebattles.com/
> https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/
>
> I go by the name Mantech1 on those sites, just an omake or two here and
> there.

Unfortunately, I am lifetime permbanned from SB, SV, and QQ. Look me up on 
FP under "Ariel Schnee". I've posted stuff on FP SFW, and FP NSFW.



---

Signature - https://www.fanficparadise.com/arielschnee/sig3.htm

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Barnhill" <mantis399 at gmail.com>
To: "The Fanfiction Mailing List" <ffml at chez-vrolet.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2021 6:05 PM
Subject: Re: [FFML] [ANNOUNCEMENT] The end of the FFML


>I remember discovering this mailing list while getting into Ranma 1/2 and
> Tenchi Muyo fanfiction, then getting my first email account with hotmail
> specifically to join this list back around '98.  Read a ton of good 
> stories
> from this list, even managed to post some at best (if you're reallly 
> drunk)
> mediocre ones.
>
> Thanks for all of the hard work you've put into this list and most
> importantly for putting the forethought into packing up the archive into a
> zipfile as too much of yesteryears internet has disappeared into the
> digital aether.  I'm sure all of us can think of atleast one fanfiction
> website that just disappeared before they could think of backing up their
> favorite stories.
>
> So as others have done I'll add a couple of the forums that I've been
> frequenting for fanfiction and discussion:
> https://forums.spacebattles.com/
> https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/
>
> I go by the name Mantech1 on those sites, just an omake or two here and
> there.
>
> On Sun, Apr 4, 2021 at 5:53 AM Weiss Schnee <weissschnee333 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> You know, here's a thought.
>>
>> If you don't have time to tend to it yourself, why not hand it over to
>> someone else then?
>>
>> There must be someone who wants this list to survive, and would put the
>> time
>> in to maintain it now too.
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>>
>> Signature - https://www.fanficparadise.com/arielschnee/sig3.htm
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dennis Carr" <dennisthetiger at chez-vrolet.net>
>> To: <ffml at chez-vrolet.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2021 6:02 PM
>> Subject: [FFML] [ADMIN] [ANNOUNCEMENT] The end of the FFML
>>
>>
>> >I suppose there's no easy way of putting it.
>> >
>> > After some discussion with the moderators and quite a bit of thought
>> > over the past few months, I have elected to close the FFML.
>> >
>> > There are several reasons for this, but I suppose it can be distilled
>> > down to two: one is personal, and the other is that time and
>> > technology march on.
>> >
>> > The personal end boils down to no longer having the spoons and having
>> > to rearrange my life to better serve me.  This is, no doubt, a rather
>> > small thing to deal with - but as I examine my life in middle age and
>> > make changes in how I live my life, I'm realizing I have an awful lot
>> > of such rather small things in my life - and I can either continue on
>> > how I've been doing, or I can sum up what is needed to continue for
>> > (hopefully) another 40+ years.  And to be honest, as much as I came to
>> > love this list in the 24 years since I joined, sometimes one just has
>> > to let go of that which they love.
>> >
>> > To this same end, I honestly haven't been terribly active in anime
>> > fandom in quite some time.  The last time I did anything, in fact, was
>> > a "ghost shoot" at Sakura Con in Seattle maybe 13 years ago.  I
>> > haven't been back since, and would like to go again.  Hell, even a
>> > story that I started and co-wrote with another author has been sitting
>> > on my disk and taking up space - I might continue it.  It's called
>> > Unfinished Business and is a Tenchi Muyo exchange-student story set
>> > where I once lived in north Orange County, California.  But I digress.
>> >
>> > The other reason, though, seems bigger.  It's like I said - time
>> > and technology march on.
>> >
>> > This list was created in the early years of the public internet.  I
>> > don't know exactly when, as I found the list myself in 1997 when White
>> > Wolf was still hosting and the pseudo-user Tybalt was used by the mods
>> > of the time.  In that time since, though, much has changed on the
>> > network.  Usenet, for instance, is not nearly as widely used as it
>> > once was, with much of alt.* alone being riddled with spam.  Mailing
>> > lists came in to fill in the blanks where Usenet would otherwise not
>> > serve, and while many such lists still exist most have simply fallen
>> > off.  Even twenty years ago, we started seeing dedicated websites and
>> > web forums for specific purposes including fanfiction as a whole, and
>> > in some cases those sites gave way to social media sites such as
>> > Livejournal and Myspace - which themselves basically gave way to the
>> > likes of Reddit and Facebook.  Even Yahoogroups - our old standby that
>> > we used as backup when Phillip Mak passed on 14 years ago and during
>> > some other server issues over the years - has pretty much been closed
>> > up.  And all that is just a mere sliver of the progression out here.
>> > Where I don't deny there is an aspect of not wanting to continue owing
>> > to these changes in how we work on the internet, this evolution unto
>> > itself is indeed a large part of what's driving this decision.
>> >
>> > To be perfectly clear, this is not at all about the simple fact that
>> > the traffic on this list has dwindled since even before I took the
>> > list onto my own server.  The dwindle is just a side effect of the
>> > evolution.  Long time subscribers will remember that, back when I even
>> > discovered this list in 1997 or thenabouts, we would regularly see
>> > upwards of 20 messages per day (and that was a quiet day!) and in some
>> > cases expect to wait at least an hour before our message got fully
>> > posted by the fanfic.com server(s).  We were super active back then!
>> > There was indeed a shift when Phillip took it on, things just slowed
>> > down.  And yeah, I openly admit that I had some optimism that we would
>> > see list traffic get to the volume that once was - but that was not
>> > meant to be, despite the "hello world" flurry of posts in July of 2007
>> > as the boxes were notionally unpacked here.  Either way, to reinforce
>> > - the lack of traffic in and of itself is not a driver in this
>> > decision.  That lack of traffic is just a side effect of what has come
>> > to be.
>> >
>> > It's not an easy decision for me to make.  But as much as I have come
>> > to love this list, it's time to call it a day.  This email list, by
>> > and large, has served its purpose and served it well.
>> >
>> > As of the time I am sending this email, I have changed list settings
>> > to simply reject posts from anyone who is not a member (previous
>> > settings were to hold email for moderator intervention).  ffml-admins
>> > will retain its current settings and will remain live for the
>> > duration, so if you need to ping us off list then please don't
>> > hesitate to do so.
>> >
>> > In keeping with the 14th anniversary of opening the list on
>> > chez-vrolet.net, I will close this list completely on the evening of
>> > July 1, 2021.  The archive will be packed up as it exists, and I will
>> > have it available for download as a zip file until January 1, 2022.
>> > The mirrors, as linked in the FAQ, will remain online at the
>> > prerogative of their respective hosts.  I don't run those, and I don't
>> > get to tell 'em what to do. =)
>> >
>> > The usual rules will still apply in the meantime, of course.  The
>> > moderator team will remain in place for the duration of the closure
>> > period, and you are welcome to continue to use the list as it has been
>> > used since time(t) = minus infinity - but going forward we are now
>> > officially allowing the posting of links to "plug" yourself and how to
>> > make contact aside from email once the list goes dark.  So that we may
>> > keep in contact, I encourage you to share this information.  Mine, as
>> > such, is below.
>> >
>> > Oh.  One last note, because since getting this domain in 2003 I've
>> > seen three people who pronounce it correctly aside from my ex wife and
>> > I (and I gotta spell it every bloody time!) - and I don't know who
>> > here has figured it out.
>> >
>> > It's pronounced "SHAY vro-LAY". =D
>> >
>> > Thank you, everyone, for being here.
>> >
>> > -Dennis Carr
>> > (soon to be former list op)
>> > PO Box 6
>> > Bothell, WA 98041
>> > dennisthetiger at chez-vrolet.net
>> > http://chez-vrolet.net/~dennisthetiger
>> > https://www.facebook.com/dennisthetiger/
>> >         .-------Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List--------.
>> >         |   Administrators - ffml-admins at chez-vrolet.net   |
>> >         |   Unsubscribing - ffml-request at chez-vrolet.net   |
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>> >         `----- FAQ http://chez-vrolet.net/ffml/faq.txt ----'
>> >
>> >
>>
>>          .-------Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List--------.
>>          |   Administrators - ffml-admins at chez-vrolet.net   |
>>          |   Unsubscribing - ffml-request at chez-vrolet.net   |
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>>
>>
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