Forgive me if this sounds incoherent, or harsher than it's meant to, I'm
operating on one hour's sleep out of the last 48.

Well, NewRanma is over. Did I like the ending? Well, sure. As a whole, I've
greatly enjoyed this fic on many levels. Chibi-hentai-Dave liked the naughty
bits, former-teenage-slut-Dave was stung by the realism of certain portions,
Ranma-fan-Dave was intrigued by many of the characterizations. But why am I
writing this final note?

Simple. to certain members of the list: Quitcherbitchin! So Jones-san
decided that he wouldn't accept story-based criticism. So what? What he
described happening to The Clan is _exactly_ what happened to me with "Akane
The Vampire Slayer". I started worrying too much about what others would
like to see, of thought should be included, until I lost sight of my
original goesl for the series and the whole thing collapsed under it's own
metaphorical weight. I've been there, Jones, I feel your pain. More power to
ya for daring to re-write so much kb of fic. I admit I'll miss how things
were going, but I admire your moxie.

As to those of you who felt insulted/betrayed that Jones didn't warn you
ahead of time that he wasn't interested in story criticism, and felt that
you wasted your time, well, that's just dumb. I myself posted long C+Cs of
several chapters of NR, including story commentary, and I don't feel
cheated. What I enjoyed most was the dialogue between myself and other
reviewers, it opened my eyes to aspects of the work I hadn't noticed, and
hopefully I did the same for them. I mean, really. The FFML should be,
(IMHO), a workshop-type group, where we discuss and try to help out our
fellow authors, as well as just plain sitting back and enjoying some fun
stories, not merely a free spell-and-grammar checking service(Not to degrade
that tye of C+C, I find it quite handy myself.) If Jones chooses to
disregard our commentary, then that's his perogative. Better he maintain a
firm grasp on the rudder and complete the fic then listen to even one
opinion other than his own and let the fic die unfinished. I mean, think
about it, people! Jones just _finished_ a 20-part fanfiction! Completed it!
My _GOD_ do you know how RARE that is? How many of you out there have
actually _finished_ a fanfic of that length? Lord knows I haven't yet. If I
had a dollar for every never-to-be-finished Ranma fanfic on the net, I'd buy
and sell Bill Gates!

So to you, Jones-san, I tip my hat. You have finished a story, they way you
_wanted_ to. Congrats. I, at least, enjoyed it as it stands. (Tho' you still
shoulda let Ranma bang Nabiki! ~_^)

Dave Menard
Hack at large


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