Once upon a time, there was a creative Land of Milk and Honey, where C&C
flowed freely, and all were kind and charitable towards each other, and
there was no discord. It was called the Fan Fiction Mailing List, and
all was good.

The fact is that there was no such place, it never happened. The Land of
Milk and Honey is a myth, and anyone who believes in that myth is
fooling themselves.

Those of you who were around back in the late summer/early spring of
1996 will probably remember the Revengefic Wars (unless your
subconscious is trying to protect you). About 300 subscribers, posting
an average of 300 posts a day, 98% of it spam and piss and vinegar, and,
if you sift carefully, and remained patient, you could find some real
fanfic gems among the dross. This lasted for months. 

What do we have today, two and a half years later? Over 1000
subscribers, posting about 60 messages a day on average, roughly 30% of
it fanfiction, another 10% or so useful C&C, and the rest is that same
spam, piss, and vinegar. 

In a relative sense, I'd say we're doing pretty good right now.

So stop whining, purge your selective memories about "the good old
days," and start writing and C&Cing again. If you can't or won't deal
with that, or you can't handle being flamed or ignored, do the rest of
us a public service and unsubscribe. Cool off for awhile, decide what it
is you really write for in the first place, and come back to us when
you're ready to deal with this again, because it will never change.
There will always be jackasses on this list, and there will always be
slow spots where most people are too busy to write or give C&C. It
happens, has happened, and will happen again, forever ad nauseum.

We'll be wishing you a speedy return,
J. Austin and Bridget Engman Wilde
-- 
       "Why are they wearing bras?"
          -Rachel Wilde, age 4,
while watching the Dirty *ahem* Lovely Angels...
________________________________________________
   Come and see the fanfics and food of
         Bridget and Jamie Wilde!
            wildeman@psn.net
      http://www.psn.net/~wildeman/