Heya,

There hasn't been this much traffic since the so-called 'old days'--are we 
really that old now?  Wow.  And I think Mike's got it right--a lot of what 
made the FFML a useful writer resource and source of fanfiction is no longer 
as relevant today.  FF.net generates far more criticism these days, and 
while some of it is pretty silly stuff, I've also received some very 
intelligent and critical reviews from there.

What FF.net can't provide, and what the FFML used to, was critical, in-depth 
feedback with which an author could improve their work.  Eventually that 
evolved into finding pre-readers before posting to the FFML, which began to 
undermine the whole reason for the list's existance (from a writer's point 
of view, really) but a writer's not going to complain about that; he or she 
is still getting the desired feedback.

FF.net also doesn't provide much of a social atmosphere.  I made a couple of 
long-term e-mail acquaintances through the FFML . . . but that's far less 
likely these days, if off-topic comments can get you tempbanned.

Finally, though--I think Mike's absolutely correct about some people moving 
on, and no one replacing them.  New writers getting into this stuff look for 
FF.net type stuff, I'm guessing; it's just easier.  Hell, I joined the ML 
way back in 96? 97?  Nearly a decade ago.  Didn't even have Explorer to 
use--what was that old interface, Lynx or something?  I was a university 
student then.  Loads of free time.  Now I'm in the so-called 'real world' 
and time's a wee bit more valuable, though I do write much more than I did 
back then, and faster as well.  It's just not necessarily anime-orientated.  
Which doesn't mean that I won't be finishing off long-overdue stories, 
but... well, people change.  Other than the big Miyazaki films, it's pretty 
rare that I watch anime anymore.

-Mike Noakes
(who?)
(but still finishing off his Ranma fanfiction....)

e-mail: noakes_m@hotmail.com
homepage: http://www.geocities.com/noakes_m
blog!: http://walkingshaodw.blogspot.com



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