On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Douglas A. Reeves wrote:

Um, some of the best fanfic ideas I've seen were originally spamfics that
got developed further after good response.  I think that's adequate defense
of the idea, no?

Funnily enough, those used to be called teasers.  Or, 'fic ideas. Or even
just straight 'fanfics'.  And I submit this; the spamfic is not what you
think it is.   

When I joined the list, and for a long time throughout (until WWolf got
annoyed and threw off offendees), a spamfic was any sort of 'round-robin'
story whose parts were sent to the ML instead of the ring of writers; any
and all were invited and allowed to join in.  Eventually, so many people
got annoyed at this that, as said, WWolf tossed them off the list.  Those
have blossomed into the Spam Wars and .sig Wars and what have you. 

And, strangely enough, someone else got the idea for another round-robin
'fic, this one involving Ranma 'fic characters meeting one another. :)
Guess what?  We're now proud to bring you Converging Series, which grew
from four writers (m'self, Ross McKenzie, Chris Willmore, and Kun-chan)
to include 2 other writers, as well as artists and even game designers.
O.o :) 

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