[FFML] [ADMIN] [ANNOUNCEMENT] The end of the FFML

[David McMillan]

On 4/3/2021 8:02 PM, Dennis Carr wrote:
> It's pronounced "SHAY vro-LAY". =D
>
> Thank you, everyone, for being here.
>
> -Dennis Carr

     Well... I've been trying, off and on for the past ~3 months, to 
come up with some kind of sendoff that would be worthy of what this list 
was to me.  I failed.  So... I'll just blurble on a bit.

     I got into the list in, I think, the late 90s.  I can't actually 
recall my "gateway drug," but I think my first exposure to "serious" 
fanfic was (wait for it) the Eyrie Productions "Undocumented Features" 
series, which I stumbled across while searching for something else (this 
was pre-Google -- probably Alta-VIsta or Webcrawler, or maybe even 
Yahoo).  Searching for some of the things UF kept making in-joke 
references too lead me to other 'fics, then webrings (remember those?  
Back then, they were actually pretty major), and following webrings of 
different fanfictions eventually lead me to a mention of the FFML, which 
I chased down, joined, and...  well, it was magical.

     Half of my saved FFML postings aren't stories, but the C&C threads 
that erupted from them, and all the interactions with the authors, and 
critics, and random plotbuunny-farmers who would wander by and drop 
idea-bombs just to watch the ensuing craziness.  It was creation in 
near-realtime, part writing, part jazz improv, and even "filthy casuals" 
like myself got to contribute a bit to the performance now and then.  
Seeing how the sausage was made was sometimes as fun as consuming the 
end product.  In some ways, it was like was college was *supposed* to be 
like, and wasn't.

     Fiance wars, revenge 'fics, MST3Ks, the Chicken Ball Awards, DYO!, 
crackfics and one-shots, fanfics based on other 'fics rather than on any 
"canon" material, mega-crossovers, fusions, original stories 
masquerading as fanfic, , that one one-shot based on someone giving 
their spell checker free reign, watching some authors getting better 
over time, and... sadly, some authors dropping out of the "scene" instead.

     So many stories that I fell in love with, and would watch my inbox 
with almost the FOMO that people watch their FB or Twitter feeds these 
days (of course, back then, "internet" for me was long-distance dialup, 
so I relied on using automated tools to dial up at night, download my 
emails and upload my queued replies in batches, and hang up, so I was 
almost always 24hrs behind the curve at best....).  The FFML was like an 
oyster bed for new stories, scattering sand grains in all directions in 
such volumes that a large number of pearls were almost guaranteed, 
despite Sturgeon's Law.  And it was my gateway (drug?) to genres and 
canons that I'd never even heard of -- more than half the anime and 
manga I bought for over a decade was probably caused by fanfics that 
pushed my "I gotta try the canon source material!" button.

     Hearts of Ice eventually finished (Hey, Krista!).  Sailor Moon Z.  
"Together Again."    Drunkard's Walk II.  The Saotome Gambit. Waters 
Under Earth. Just to name a few.

     And others that I still held out hope to see another chapter of, 
like FOX Squadron, The Shadow Chronicles  Children of Fire, Comes The 
Cold Dragon, Ranma and Akane: A Love Story, Girl Days, Centaur... and 
probably a whole mess of others mixed together in the junk drawer of my 
failing memory under 'You know, the story with the thing, when 
wossisname did you-know-what to whatsherface."

     I got less active as the list got less active, even though I never 
let my subscription lapse as I changed emails.  I'll miss it, now that 
it'll be gone.  I doubt we'll ever see anything quite like it again, for 
the sheer Wild West of it -- all genres, all series, no idea too crazy, 
the sky was no limit and our C&C audience ranged from English majors 
correcting grammar to retired SpecOps types correcting gun mistakes to 
people with actual experience living in Japan who kept trying to bridge 
the cultural divides....

     But as they say, all good things... eventually end.  Now that I'm 
getting to the point where I have more years behind than ahead, I'll 
just have to download the archive and spend hours in my rocking chair, 
reminiscing over forgotten fics and wondering "what ever happened to 
those people, anyway?"  ...good grief, I'm starting to understand 
Getting Old.  Shoot me now!

     I hate to see it go.  But *damn*, it was a ball and a half back in 
its heyday, and was often one of the bright spots in my daily grind.

     Goodbye, old friend.  What a long, strange trip it's been.