Ooops.  Sent this the first time to the original author, not the list, 
so he's gonna get it twice...(I told ya I was a newbie.)  Sorry...


I was really going to try to ignore this, because it seems to be 
approaching SPAM levels, but...

Mind you, I didn't always have this attitude.  I started reading the 

Ranma

fics and liked them.  (It was the first series I follwed as a general
rule).  That was before my collection of Ranma fics went over 700
(individual stories or chapters), just over half the total number of 

fics

available (or those that I've found, they make a huge dent in my hard
drive).  And then I got to see what a creative black hole this series 

has

become.  People are spending so much of their time writing fics for 

what is

now a dead series, both in manga and anime form, and people are 

ignoring

the plethora of other series available to them.

   I'm picking this attitude up from a few people, and they all seem to 
have the same trait--They've been on the FFML for a long time.  Of 
course you've gotten sick of the predominate fic type!  However, that 
doesn't change the fact that for many newbies (myself included), Ranma 
is also one of the best-documented sources.  Most of the others (BGC and 
Sailor Moon are both exceptions) have nowhere near the amount of 
background to play with.  It's worth noting that BGC and SM fics are 
also becoming more common--I seem to be getting at least a few every 
week.

   If you and the others who are bored with Ranma are not happy, there's 
a real good solution:  Write something else yourselves.  However, you 
need to keep in mind the following:

  The more obscure your source is, the more explanation a reader is 
going to need to understand what is going on.  For the most part, I 
eliminate fics based on something (like, say, BGC) which I have not had 
a chance to familiarize myself with (Please do not bombard me with 
demands that I rush out and find all the volumes and watch them this 
weekend.  I liked the one I saw, I just don't have time/money--I have 
few places that rent anything more than a handful of titles nearby).

Why do I cut these fics?  Because most fanfics are written with the idea 
that we know who the characters are and what their basic backgrounds 
are.  If you don't know the source, a fanfic suffers from all the 
problems of original fics, with the added problem that there's not 
enough info given to get ahold of the characters.


Also, if your hard drive is getting overloaded, may I suggest the 
possibility of read and delete?  I have to do this with any fic I don't 
print out, as I read these stories from a system I'm not allowed to 
download to.

This is why I say that the occasional SM, Tenchi, Eva, YYH or AMG fic 

is

like a gift from Heaven.  At last, I'm reading something from someone 

who

is willing to expand their horizons.  The Ranma fic has become a cosy
little bolthole for people who aren't willing to extend themselves.  

The

increasing number of fics on Evangelion is great.  I haven't read a bad 

one

yet.  I've read a couple of bad SM fics, but then that series is second 

to

Ranma in terms of numbers.

But I refute the suggestion that there is something wrong with me if I 

say

I don't like reading Ranma fics anymore.  Whether or not I read the 

damn

things is my business.  And I'm letting you know my displeasure at the
continuing high number of them.  

Sorry, you're out of luck there, unless you plan on blocking out new 
subscribers.

People have been complaining of late about the low volume of c&c they 

have

been receiving.  Put 2 and 2 together.  Maybe people aren't reading the
fics anymore because they're bored shitless with them.  When someone 

sees

"Ranma" or "R1/2" in the subject header, maybe they're saying to 

themselves

"Oh shit, not another one".  You may think that there are endless
possibilities for fictions with Ranma, but those endless possibilities 

go

as far as the interest in the readership.

M.A. Page

Fine, so write that stuff you want to see.  Just give us some kind of 
synoposis of the series itself first, or I'll delete it after the first 
'graph.

--Freemage

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