Forgive me for saying the same thing twice in a row, but I think John has
a perfect right to be upset that his likeness was used without his
permission.  I do not at all agree that it was in "poor taste".  If I ask
to borrow your car, and you don't answer, does that mean it's okay for me
to do it?  Same principle here.

(Smiles to all reading this reply - note that I'm not being dead-serious
about this message)

Not quite.  A car is a physical thing: If you take someone's car they would
actually be missing their method of transportation.  As for whether or not
it is okay to use someone in a fanfic - we already use tons of characters we
have no permission to use and some of us have used real people without
permission without anyone blinking an eye (Guest fic appearences by
Takahashi, etc).

One aspect of this whole deal seems odd to me - an artist can make a comic
strip of the president of the U.S. and make it as degrading as he wants (so
long as it is still funny) and nobody would bat an eyelash.  Put your
average joe in that same filmstrip and identify him and it would immediatly
be in bad taste and we'd all smell lawsuit.

Also, another thing I think is odd - this time concerning the ML.  Every
time someone does something on the ml that someone else doesn't like it
becomes an "issue" (a word I hate) and is immediatly debated (I *really*
hate moral debates) by the masses of the ML, and nearly everyone who states
an opinion is always correct (Not to single you out: Everyone on the ML is
correct in everything they say - I mean, they *are* authors :)

Now to finally give my own viewpoint:  In my opinion, including someone on
the ML in a fanfic as a cameo is not that much of a stretch on 'stealing'
characters from an anime series.  Half the people on the ML have an anime
alias as it is.  Now, if someone uses others without permission and degrades
them or involves them in controversial (The most hated word of all) or
immoral acts that is defamation of character and needs to be dealt with
swiftly (I could see a lawsuit based on this - the hapless author gets
slapped with defamation and then gets sued for using anime characters in the
first place after that lawsuit is over: ouch)

For the record, I've only wanted to use a fellow author in a fanfic once --
two years ago I had this crazy notion that I could write decent BGC
fanfiction and I wanted to use Skyknight from the BGZone as a character.  I
asked Bert if I could use him and he replied:

"OH GOD NO END IT NOW!!!!"  (Okay, he was subtle and polite about the whole
thing -- but I knew what he was thinking... I actually suspect that if the 5
page 'demo' I sent him had been any good he might have agreed to let me use
Skyknight)

Needless to say, I dropped that idea before I'd finished the last bit of the
reply.

Translation:  "I don't have a problem with it but you wouldn't catch me dead
doing it.  Also, if you wanna do it - I wouldn't complain about myself being
used as a character but others would...."

And finally, if you disagree with me - YOU'RE RIGHT!!!  (Surprise, eh?)
Because you are either thinking of different circumstances or looking at it
from a different moral viewpoint.  This little ability of the human brain
allows more than one opinion to be correct.

Also, here's my standard argument/debate disclaimer:

"The views stated above are solely those of Doug Murphy A.K.A. Draxon-X.
The views stated above will not be repeated by Doug Murphy/Draxon-X nor will
he attempt to argue his views and opinions if challenged.  Why?  Because
Doug knows that nine out of ten people reading this message will have a
differing or conflicting viewpoint and that any further discussion on his
part would be detrimental to the FFML.  Also, Doug has not read the songfic
in question and used generalized views - which means his response was a
'general' response to an issue before the ML.  Doug wrote this message with
the assumption that defamation of character was not an issue and thus
believes the 'use of anothers persona' issue to be minor and not worth much
debating.  Doug will in no way be held legally or morally responsible for
the actions of those he may have influenced with this message.  Thank you.
By reading this letter you agree to surrender your soul upon death to Doug
in exchange for a dime and a half-empty coke bottle."