Aug 2008 Archive, part a

I've just posted my application, it's out of my hands now. Um. Yeah. *crosses fingers*

I thought the essay was good, and it's precisely the ability to see those kinds of logistical errors that makes for good PPCing.

~Neshomeh

Couldn't tell you on the second one, but if the first isn't yet claimed (the claimed badfic page on the wiki should answer this one) then, by Glod, it needs to die.

1. Yes.
   
   2. Not sure, I think a PG would have to rule on this.
   
   And as to the last bit, just record the lines normally. I didn't do the effects for the Flowers parts in the radio plays until after I put the scene completely together. So leave that for Trojie or Cassie to do, I'd say.

Good ol' Heist. I remember that thread. Twas quite amusing... Glad to know the amusement was easy to continue. Hope to hear more about the adventures of Heist

'Tis tres amusant.

Now I want to try something like that.
Because I currently hate all my fanfiction and I can't find anything to make a good mission, so my writer's brain is going a little haywire.
And that sounds really fun. Where did you get your generator?

*hurries off to read*

But...um...yeah. Hey! *enjoys giving gifts far too much* Lessee, um, a nicely sharp and pointy dagger, a scarf made of Ypur fur, a green and silver paper crane, and a box of matches.

Everyone else has said all that really needs to be said, so I'm just offering my own hi. *waves*

Lovely to meet you. Here, have a bag of pebbles to throw at Sues and a Random Shiny Object to gaze at.

Nice to have you here.

Ehh, don't worry about the personality fit thing - as long as you don't post links to porn where everyone can see them, it's fine by me.

Are there fanwriters whose work you can recommend? I haven't found very many people, but I'm probably looking in the wrong places [read: The Pit].

Just have fun and...stuff. Yeah. *wanders off, trying to think of a better closing sentence*

Crabby personalities are fine and it's nice how straight forward you are about it. Welcome to the PPC.

That's alright, onions are actually quite useful. Sometimes better in recipes than all the sugar in the world.

Here, have a-- oh, wait.

Well, enjoy yourself on the Board then?

Man, I haven't done that in ages. Welcome to the board, have a pickled pepper.

Rare as zircons is good genfic. I'm also more into print-media fandoms than TV or movies, simply because the books are more accessable.

*does so* Sell the ice if you wish; I'm not quite sure who would want to buy virtual half-melted ice but... *shrugs*

Hi, welcome, greetings, hello and good day to you. Your blog is quite interesting, I must say.

*hiffs lembas and scuttles to safety*

Hello, I'm Trojie, I give people lembas and snark at their badly written sexual fantasies involving Elves. I'm guessing by the quality of grammar in this post that I'm not likely to be hammering on your door any time soon :P

Contrary to popular opinion, the Board isn't a hedonistic cesspit of Elf porn (even exquisitely punctuated Elf porn) and giggling. I should say that taking writing seriously is probably enough to fit you in with the general misfittery around here. So, welcome!

Accept that you'll end up in a pile of silly welcoming objects (usually given to disguise the fact that most people just post 'er, hi, I'm new, I hate badfic too' and it's hard to reply to that, really), and join in the fun, snarking, sporking, as much silliness as you can stand, oh, and if you have any knowledge of animation, please email me at trojanhorseshadowfax AT gmail DOT com

- Trojie, sporker of bad slash and currently running round trying to organise bits and pieces for the PPC Animated Movie - yes more silliness but hopefully some fun as well. And a chance to kill Sues visually.

... Okay, maybe not. But if you feel like having a Transdimensional Pocket Knife, it's here. Sell it if you like.

I'd give you a nice chirpy "Welcome! Lovely to meet you!" sort of greeting, but I have the feeling you might shoot me with Ansela's sniper rifle. Suffice it to say that you are welcome, bubbly or not, and I, too, much prefer a well-thought critique to gushing praises. My feelings aren't hurt easily, though I tend to use 'disclaimers' (as you call them) to cushion the blow. If I hurt feelings, I feel bad myself. *shrugs* 'tis personal taste.

In any case, I look forward to seeing your sense of humour, and I imagine your PPC missions (if and when you choose to ask Permission) will be very... shall we say "vigilant"? *grin*

Welcome. Please don't shoot.

Here--I gift you with an egg whisk. It's shiny, gold-plated, and, hey, it whisks eggs! Use it for good and not evil.

You may get many things beginning with "P"--a plover is a common newbie gift, as is a poke. But ketchup begins with "K," so I guess I'm safe.

I recognize you! Welcome to the Board!

I gift you with psychic paper, even though it has a lot of "p"s, because it doesn't sound like it begins with a p and I care not if you sell it. It's useful stuff, though, you should keep it for yourself.
And long, unabashed critiques are better than "omg i luv it" or "omg taht sux". So no worries.

Panding to your petition, I'll personally provide painful alliteration but nothing else.

Besides, my puns are horrible enough they'd make you wander away again and besides that, Ansela already gave you the wiki link.

Here, have a Sniper Rifle. Good for taking out Sues at a distance.

Have you visited the Wiki yet? If you haven't, you'll find it a good resource for all your PPC needs. The FAQ is also helpful.

Please, read The Original Series (not to be confused with Star Trek) if you haven't already. The website maintained by hS is also good reading.

Also, do not read any of the Legendary Badfic unless you are well prepared. Even the summaries have been known to cause irreparable damage to people's brains.

Come in, leave your sanity at the door (you won't need it here) and be yourself. We're hardy souls who can take criticism, and we don't bite, normally.

NOOOOOOOO! ANOTHER PERSON TO MASSACRE THE TOLKIEN LEGENDARIUM! MY PRECIOUSSSSSSS CANON!
Okay...why did they name a character after Agent Dafydd's ring? (And I suppose it's also Maglor's, but my Silm memories are rather rusty so tell me if I'm wrong.)
But it's not THAT bad, compared to other tripe I have seen. The author/ess knows little snippets of bookverse and Silmarillion knowledge. *peeks at review page* GO WANDERING CRITIC!!!

Not the worst, by far, but it's definitely sporking material. After the squeeing reviews already up there, the author may be badly traumatized by mine (and should be grateful that I'm quite busy and didn't have time to give her story a thorough going-over). Y'know, I really should write a blog post about the people who see the whole world through their teenage perspective and have no concept that there is anything else out there, and who turn everything into a bad teen romance novel. I miss the old days; now, when the overwhelming majority of fanfic is written by semi-literate teenage girls who have never read a book in their lives, this stuff is the rule rather than the exception.

I now have a job here in Japan!!! I am not sure which city it is in, but I have to be at training on September 1.

L

Have fun, and a safe trip! *waves*

So this is a bit late of a recognization, but it still counts. Have fun, Leto! Good luck! We'll miss you in the meanwhile!

*carefully locks the closet into which are shoved the jealously screeing Japan-fangirls a'Board*

I am at my first hostel in Tokyo. It is so hot am muggy here. It feals as if you are walking up against a wall when you leave any air conditioned area.

Had a great flight (even though it was delayed an hour and a half), now I am going to colapse before I fall asleep walking.

Night all.

L

Have a magnificent time! Japan is an awesome country, to say the least.
You'll do great. The PPC Agents are a hardy breed. :)

Have fun, Leto!

I've been trying to learn hiragana and katakana Japanese, but I'm not doing that well at the moment. I'd love to be able to travel somewhere on my own, but...meh. Like I said, have fun!

How dare you go to Japan? How dare you? *is reduced to a wimpering heap on the floor* I-I-I've been trying to go for year and you just... *sob*



Seriously though, have fun. Take more pictures than you know what to do with.

Wow, that sounds like fun! ^^

Don't forget to take lots of pictures and how to ask "where's the bathroom?"in Japanese! xD

HAH! Jingle Bells! What will that machinery think of next?

... On second though, do NOT let that console anywhere near mine. I don't need to hear electronic melodies as I sleep...

Congratulations on your first mission!

Writing sample is here, and badfic is here. Sorry about that.

Everything looks great, but I would like to see a writing sample before I officially give permission.

Though not a PG at all, I'd like to say a few things.

First of all, I'm so glad you've decided to ask for permission. Your Agents look great and so does your writing!

Also, I'd just like to point out that your second link actually links to your post. Um. Just thought you may want to fix that.

Good luck!

Wow! I didn't expect so many replies. I guess birthdays and polls and badfic seem to be what get people to come out of the woodwork.

Thank you thank you thank you all! (I'm sorry, I'm too lazy to respond to ev'ryone right this moment -- I'm late as is. *headkeyboard*) This might've been the best part of said birthday.

*is now grinning intolerably*

Okay. Since "thanks" is all I can think of to say, have some more of those, and have a wonderful day!
:)))))
C

*puffs in bearing gifts* ...sorry...

Um. Here. Have some fire that is purple and burns things. Except it doesn't burn you. And it smells unusually like watermelon.

And welcome to teenagerhood. Except "welcome" might not be the right word.

So sorry for the lateness that is this post! Can't believe it...*headdesk*

Anyway, I gift you (belatedly) with a waffle iron, for you already have an egg whisk. And...because waffles are very, very tasty.

Oh, and have some nice Belgian chocolate as well. Mmmmmm, chocolate...

(A baker's dozen of cupcakes, of course. :D)

Lesse, I already gave you a bag of holding, so......um.......have some chocolate. In the shape of a one and a three. For thirteen! Have fun being a teenager!

Happy birthday and congrats on being a teenager!!! Take a cookie! Take five, in fact, and some brownies and a camera and a few cubes of ice and a poke and a poker and...

HAPPY 13th!!

*is overgiddy and needs to calm down*

Here! Have a stack of chocolate and a silver pen and a pony and a sack of potatoes and a ring and a powerpoint presentation and a FF.N account and a spork and a courtesy LJ account and a fish and a bicycle and, of course... a TRANSDIMENSIONAL POCKET KNIFE!

(heee... I love those things)

And I second Pads; it'll be much creepier when you come out on the other end. MUCH creepier.

Happy Birthday!

Here, have a Redeemer. Nothing says 'I'm now a teenager' like fiery thermonuclear death. Just make sure that you and anyone you care about (or don't want to see die, in any case) is out of the blast radius.

Don't worry about asking for Permission. You can do so whenever you like - look at me, I joined in February and only asked now. So it's no big deal.

Have fun being a teenager. :D

Ah, 13. Your brain chemicals are about to go completely doolally. Enjoy it; it's fun. And if you think being a teenager is a strange prospect, believe me when I say it'll be weirder still, in seven years, when you suddenly realise you're not one.

Welcome to teenagerdom. I give you chocolate and a PG-13 movie of your choice.

Dale, dale, dale~.

After Indiana Jones? Golden Retrievers tend to be adventurous, and I'm pretty sure Indiana Jones went out in the ocean at one point...

Otherwise, how about Nino? You know, after 'El Nino', the underwater current?

It'd be cute...but then we wouldn't get to suggest names.
Pirate was good. Maybe Skipper? Tsunami? Cyclone? Bosun?

I like "Pilot" for non-nautical reasons all my own, but then there's the Japanese "Anjin." That's what they call John Blackthorne in "Shogun," because they can't pronounce his name. {= )

If you want to name him after an awesome character from a relatively obscure fantasy epic, you could call him Saltheart Foamfollower or Pitchwife. Of course, you might then want to read "The [First, Second, and Third] Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever," if you haven't. It's worth the author's redundant and sometimes condescending prose, and the main character[s]'s unrelenting angst, to get to know some of the other people in the world.

Um... there's Nautilus or Urchin or Limpet or something like that... Oh, I know! Pagoo, after Pagoo the Hermit-Crab. ^_^ Or maybe Sebastian, which I think is actually a cool name.

Someone said Kraken... following the train of thought, there's Leviathan, Selkie, Narwhal, Triton, Neptune, Odysseus, Ulysses, Argo[naut]...

That's all I've got right now.

~Neshomeh

...or I would have said go with "Davy," since it's a good alternative to "Squid." ^^ And some people might not figure out who you named him after unless you told them...

Besides that, I'm rather blank on nautical things- well, barring "Cthulhu," but I doubt your dad would like that one too much either.

(I personally think "Squid" is good. Hmph.)

Or Ahab?

Shame because it's also the title shared by some awesome otters. Maybe it'd be better suited for a labrador ...

"Sharky"? "Silver", as in Long John? Bonney or Read (surnames of famous female pirates who I think were cool)? No, maybe not the last two - Bonney sounds girly and nobody would get Read. Edward? That was Blackbeard's real first name.

Submarines are nice.

Flipper
Navy
Swimmer
Siren (because they lived in the sea...)
Triton (as in the merking)
Neptune

Oo! "KRAKEN"! That's not a MAIN PotC character...

Or, owing to my current Narnia indulgence:
Caspian (the Seafarer)?

I'll keep it in mind, and maybe add more later.

Huan!

Or, how about "fluffy"?

Ooh, this should be fun.

While we're going along with the sea-themed names, you could always call him "Skipper". Or "Osprey", which is a fish eagle. Or "Bosun" or "Buccaneer" or "Doubloon" or "Freebooter" or...yeah..."Dolphin"...even though that would be weird...um..."Oakum"..."Pilot"...

Yeah, that's all I got. *shrug*

Here's some others:
Pirate
Marine
Galleon
Parrot
Commodore
Admiral


Though if you used those last to then there's a possibility that Sailor might feel inferior to the new puppy, but since I doubt he actually is familiar with naval ratings I suppose that's not really a worry.

I'd pick Soldier to go with Sailor, but that's just me.

Captain, maybe?

Does it mean I'm getting old and out of touch when my first reaction to the news was "He was still alive?"

The man who brought us One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich is dead? How sad.

In Soviet Russia, peace rests in you.

...thanks for the input, guys!

I just saw Mini-Xerxes in my mind.

Mini-Immortals.
Mini-Spartas.
Mini-phalanxes.
Mini-Persian emissaries (complete with mini-madness).
Mini-Spartans.
Mini-bees (THEN WE SHALL HUG IN THE SHADE!).

I only watched about five minutes of the film, and that bit had the gigantic freaking bizarre rhinos rampaging around the battlefield. So um. Yeah.

This suethor has written 30+ stories and they are almost all rewrites of some popular movie with added Sue. Sometimes she mashes two together.

And her profile ... over 800 LINES of "favorite" movie quotes (methinks she's a bit unclear on the concept of favorites). Profiles of all her OC's. Some MySpace-like comments. But, as usual, no hint that she's ever read an actual book. That makes the one good thing about her rather surprising.

On the plus side (as I noted at the end of my rather slapped-together review) she can construct a valid English sentence, which seems to be a rare skill nowadays. It's not enough to save "Wallace & Gromit & Mary Sue in Curse of the Were-Rabbit" though.

Good luck finding enough of a 'Sue to kill. All the author does is retell the movie from the OC's point of view--the OC barely does anything except angst over Gromit and snog him at the end. It's really insipid and boring. {= P

~Neshomeh

Any fic which abruptly includes the line "then he shot a beam from his paw which the rat teleported away from" is going to be classic badfic. What got me about that line was how matter-of-fact it is, like we shouldn't be surprised at all that they can do this even though there's no AU tag and hardly any hints of magic up to this point ...

And then there was the part where Leif declares that his female sidekick needs protecting because, quote, "She is a seventeen-year-old girl she is bound to be assaulted and raped sooner or later eh", which sent my inner feminist on a rampage.

I mean, now that you've said that, it's impossible! It's completely out of the question! The Ironic Overpowers would never do that!

*waits*

Good for getting into parties uninvited and inadvertently telling everyone what you really think. Use with caution.
And welcome to the Board! Sorta. 'Cause you said you were lurking before. So you've been here a while. Welcome anyways!

(No, really, take it, I beseech you. They breed like tribbles.)

"karins past" is possibly the worst use of 460 words I have ever seen, and I'm including the spam posted below. I have seen better trollfics. I have seen better stories randomly generated by slapping phrases from badfic together. I have seen better stories in a bowl of Alpha-Bits.

The review I posted there may be my all-time harshest review, but then again, if this was bad in some really creative way, and big enough to care about, it would be in the running for the all-time worst (or at least stupidest) story. It makes Full Life Consequences look like great literature.

Any writer who inserts an author's note saying he/she/it is running out of ideas after a few hundred words of dreck has no more business trying to write than I have trying to fly to the moon.

You're in good company if you like to do stupid stuffs :P

I gift you with an egg whisk! It's shiny, gold-plated...and it whisks eggs! Use it for good and not much evil.

Welcome to the insanity!

Greetings, welcome to the Board, hope you enjoy your stay with blocks of Blumble flavored ice.

I think you've been given Wiki-links if you haven't found them yourself, so all that's left is to greet you and give you a nickname.

I shall call you Ri-Ri!

It's to hit Sues with. *grin*

I really like your name. Not sure why, but I like it.

Welcome! Thanks for the links; good on you. I'm sure July will be along soon with the Big List Of Links.

Have a nice plushie of [insert lust object/fave character's name here]!

Welcome, Makari! I give you a coxcomb. It's a sort of funny hat.

Have a ypur. Here y' go. Mind it doesn't slice your fingers off with its horns.

(For explanation, go to the thread lower down where everyone's kicking the spambot. 'Tis fun. ^_^)

Anyway. Got any agents?

Welcome, hail and well met, and other such phrases.

*hands over a bag of pebbles for throwing at Sues and a Random Shiny Object to gaze at*

Lovely to have you here. Thanks for the badfic, I'm sure someone'll deal with them sooner or later. Not my area of knowledge, I'm afraid, or I'd have taken them.

What fandoms do you cover? I'd give you some links, but other Boarders reserve them as newbie-gifts.

Oh, and leave your sanity over by the door, you won't need it. :)

...to venture so soon into the Pit.

In admiration, I do gift thee with a hand-knitted shawl in the colour (or colours) of your choice, a towel, and a large block of chocolate.

The chocolate will keep your spirits up, one must always have a towel with them, and the shawl will keep you warm in particularly chilly fic-verses. I suppose you could also sleep under it for lack of a blanket, garrote Sues with it, or hide your face under it as a shield from the worse 'fics around. It's your choice.

Welcome to the Board, for starters. Beware of anyone offering links to the Legendary Badfic - they'll scar you far, far more than these stories, distateful as they are.

Have you seen the wiki? If not, it's here - http://ppcwiki.wikilot.com . 'Tis very useful.

Oh, and have a pair of ice-skates. I'm feeling generous. :P

Here's what I think Lily's origins should be now...
~~~
"Let go of me, you vile--" screamed Eledhwen Elerossiel as two workers at the Mary Sue Factory #1203 shoved her into a clear tube.
They laughed at her. These dimwitted factory workers did not understand Westron, but the look of sheer hatred on the elleth's face told them the message anyways.
"Labo vi Orodruin," Eledhwen spat as they closed the glass door and started pressing random buttons. Then the bumbling fools stood to the side and cackled appreciatively. They would soon have another Mary Sue bearing the likeness of the foul-mouthed elleth standing in the tube.
Little did they know that they pressed a wrong button. When pressing the buttons for the clone's personality, they had pressed all the personality buttons contradictory to those of Eledhwen's persona. But of course, these were people with an IQ so low they made orcs look smart. They could only look on in surprise as a spitting image of Eledhwen Elerossiel emerged, but this elleth seemed to be more...happy?
The new elleth laughed a rather insane-sounding laugh before exclaiming, "I'm alive! And so are the Fuzzy Pink Bunnies!"
~~~
Eledhwen Elerossiel is the name of an elleth in my story "Tales of a Nightmare Come True". She hates Mary Sues with a fierce passion ever since the 'Sue in the story "Never Leave Fanfiction Lying Around" (Crazyroninchic's creation, so my story is a spin off of it) had her be a servant to the vile, disgusting, and overall sordid excuse for an original character.

First, why a cloning experiment? Conducted by whom? And why should the experiment result in a female elf with the personality and tastes of a teenage human girl? Why not simply write a teenage human girl with Liv Tyler- or Cate Blanchett-like features?

Second, a couple of things to watch out for from the writing samples:

- You want "spitting image," not "splitting image." That would be like double vision.

- "as he lay," not "laid."

~Neshomeh

... what's an Elleth?

Wuv.

It's fuzzy and cute, except for the horns...which are wicked, by the way.

Definitely want one of those...

...oh wait, I do have one! Might be problematic to squeeze - they don't look very cuddly - but certainly fun to have around. Lovely picture.

That is very blue. Also very spikey. Definitely something to stay away from if it's hungry. Also maybe if it isn't hungry.

As the link is for a Gmail message, it won't let anyone see it. Could you put it on Photobucket or something?

And...I vote you give me one for my birthday. Yeshhhh...*nodnod* XD

AND I STILL WANT ONE. If you're giving them to the newcomers, there's got to be some around somewhere. *glares suspiciously*

Those spiky horns were an absolute bugger to figure out, by the way. xD

Even if I don't know which fandom this fic massascres, I know this is WRONG, sick, and deserves a Legendary Badfic label.
And I just finished reading C*le*r*an! Woe is I...
*curls up into tiny ball and sobs*

I really should start listening to my brain when it screams "No, Makari, no! Bad writer, no biscuit!"

...the mental images will take some time to go away. One of these days I'll learn, but apparently not today. Now, I know somebody gave me something with memory-altering qualities... if only I could remember where I put it...

Erk, I remember that one. Misscam MSTed it a long, long time ago, and it was one of my first intros to badfic. But yes, definitely worthy (?) of the Legendary Badfic title.

*giggles* I love that one, it's so beautiful in its own trainwrecky way. I've only ever seen two episodes of Sailor Moon and I still think this is really funny. The part which got me was that it was apparently supposed to be set a month after it was written, so I couldn't help but wonder if the writer was hoping he'd grow a uterus and move to Tokyo in the intervening time ...

(Remind me, make references to it in OFUR. Sakura-chan glomps Gingivere and teacher tells her "put him down, we don't need an Oscar impersonation"?)

Personally, I would say that canon is too weak to take care of the problem on its own. The combination of Marisa and Asriel surviving the abyss and Lyra and Will still being together is extremely damaging.

Check Marisa and Asriel with the CAD. They may turn out to be a replacement Sue and Stu, in which case you can kill them. Problem solved.

Maybe smear on some Aura of Smooth?

(Awesome idea, the infiltration, wish I was doing it. :p )

Grab a few Andalite Agents, get them to 'acquire' a Sue/Stu. Though, the psychological repercussions might not be fun, and if one of them got stuck... anyway, I know I've read about at least one Andalite Agent.

Also, someone from the Young Wizards continuum might be able to put together a mochteroof - kind of a solid disguise that one "wears", if you're not familiar with the term. Might something like that work?

Aside from the DORKS, they can use more mundane methods. Dye their hair some outrageous color. Get colored contacts to change their eye color. Put on copious amounts of make-up and outlandish, impractical clothes. Make up a long, involved, fruity name, and be sure to tell everyone. Most of all, act like the 'Sue type they're emulating. Mostly, it would come down to acting. Even if they went without disguises, they could pull off Goth!Sue (from all the black) or Average!Sue (when they look normal but are still speshul). As July said, it's all in the attitude.

Of course, it's much more fun to dress up.

That it's not the appearance that makes a Sue.

But the actions.

So arrogance and confidence and probably a touch of makeup would work for a disguise.

And besides, I've found that so long as you /look/ like you know what you're doing and where you're going, people are less likely to interfere. That'd probably hold the same for these infiltrators. *grin*

My suggestion would be Agents from the HP Continuum, with Polyjuice Potion, Agents who are capable of turning into things anyway (I.e.: Paddebrains)or those capable of altering the perception of others through illusions and the like.

Assuming Sues aren't resistant to having their minds controlled (Doubtful, none of them seem to have a mind anyway), then Agents with psychic powers will be able to attend as well, by using their powers to change how others percieve them. Downer to this is that some Psychic Sues may notice, but Agent Lunac has several devices from the Pokemon World which block psychic powers.
And lastly, but not least, you can always have the Agents who don't fit into any of the above categories to simply be invisible.

My first question is...what's the EPC?
And I agree with Cassie. Send in ex Sues/Stus. Or maybe send in the non-human Agents, if you would like to be more general.

I assume they'd still be able to turn on their repressed qualities if necessary. I think I read that one Agent keeps having to apologise for causing urple descriptions or something.

I like your characters already. : ) Nice writing, too; I'm in awe of your description skills. You've managed to pull up clear images with just a few sentences. I still fight with my descriptions on a daily basis.

I also like the plover. It makes me happy.

My first thought was, "We have an Academy?" But that's what it would be like: Academy in the purest sense of Academia, with no real hands-on training involved. *grin*

Yay for the throne reference. I admire people who have the stomach for writing the nitty-gritty side of life. I'm a wuss that way.

~Neshomeh, who will probably get over it sooner or later.

Thank you for killing this. Lyra and Will happily married, indeed... *wanders off, grumbling angrily*

HDM is one of my old, beloved childhood canons. How dare that Suethor screw up the ending just to satisfy her own "creativity"? Good on you for killing it.

Poor Crebaina and Aeron... *huggles them * That must have been awful. I offer Bleeproducts for them.

So now, somewhere in headquarters, an amnesic, cut Sue is being poked at by a HDS-native Agent...

I absolutely loved yours. As Trojie said, you really made Bluefen into a vermin girl. Fantastically done!

As for the other...kill it. It's confusing. DX

Yours was awesomesauce; I would have left a review only ff.net appears to have locked me out. Srsly. Awesome, and realistic. It makes sense. You made Bluefen a real vermin girl :)

As for the badfic, I read a couple of chapters and had to give up. It's heinous.

Welcome to the message board. I got into a bit of trouble recently for giving someone a self-assembly enema kit, so have a spork mattress (a comfortable resting place for the everyday spork on the go).

I gift you with psychic paper, useful in all kinds of situations. Just be careful not to let your mind wander, and don't use it after reading the Legendary Badfic.

Don't think anyone has said this, but in order to write for the PPC, you have to hang out on the Board at least a month, posting and chatting and such. When the month is up, you post asking for Permission, with your Agent(s), their Department, and a writing sample.

(Oh, and Atwater-Rhodes is awesome, I agree.)

Have fun here!

YES! More rain lovers! I give you a welcome gift - RAIN!

Actually, it's running water. One of those self-contained mini-environments that has a river flowing up and down hills and lifted by water-wheel to return to the beginning. Also, there's a little firebrand in the middle of the 'land'. Enjoy!

It's always good to find another person who can't be in a rain shower without dancing! And another Atwater-Rhodes fan (love her vamps)! And distracted by moving shinys! And a poetry nut!

I think maybe I love you. XDD

Speaking of which, you heard Loreena McKennitt's song version of The Highwayman? She leaves out a few stanzas, but otherwise it's fantastic! I've always found that having a tune to the words makes memorizing much easier. And have you read John Masefield? His sea poems sometimes make me wonder if he didn't have a little of Tolkien's sea longing himself...

And now for the obligatory gift: the egg whisk! It's shiny, gold-plated, and it whisks eggs! Feel free to use on spambots and other nasties!

Welcome to the insanity!

About the moving fire or water? Same here. I stare at candles for ages and ages and usually end up burning napkins and flower petals inside. *issuchapyro*

Buuut anyway. I give thee a Ypur, which was born from a spambot's typo and resembles a dark blue, spiky-horned yak. It eats sausages.

To save you some time, you also get a scarf made of Ypur fur.

So. Any agents?

Tlot in the frosty silence, tlot in the echoing night
Nearer he came and nearer, her face was like a light
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath
Then her finger moved in the monlight
Her musket shattered the moonlight
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death.

Memorizing poetry (and songs) is fun. Hooray for "The Highwayman"!

Anyway, I gift you with a harpsichord. Because harpsichords make everything better.

Got any Agents yet?

Welcome, Anity! I give you a coxcomb, which is a funny hat worn by old-fashioned jesters. It's fun.

Finally, a chance to give my thing out. Hi and welcome.

The Wiki

And Board FAQ.

Have a pair of ice skates.

Apologies, I just had sugar. But hello anyway! *waves frantically*

Always lovely to have more newbies! Here you go! *gives bag of pebbles for throwing at Sues and a Random Shiny Object to gaze at*

And you have sporks! I have sporks too, somewhere, but my stuff's in such a mess at the moment that I cannot locate them. I'll find them soon, though.

There are several links which no doubt will be provided for you soon (I'd provide them but JulyFlame reserves the right to hand links out as newbie-gifts), which you should check out, if you have not done so already.

What fandoms do you cover, other than the books of the lady you already mentioned?

Oh, and just in case, if anyone gives you a link to something called C*l*br**n, That Series or anything called Legendary Badfic, in the name of everything sacred, DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK. Those things could and probably would break your brain.

Once again, welcome to the PPC and I hope to see you around!

Well, I'm kinda new here myself, so I have no helpful hints or nifty items to give. I'm pretty good at digging up badfic when I put my mind to it, but somehow I don't think you'd want any.

Forgive my ignorance, but what has Amelia Atwater-Rhodes written? It's entirely possible I've read some of her books and not noted her name.

Also, The Highwayman = win, at least in my books. You've managed to get yourself tagged as a nifty person, congratulations. Here's a pointe shoe. Slightly dead shank-wise, but still hard enough in the box to cause unconsciousness when applied with sufficient force. Enjoy! : )

*Gives first load of Bleepolate* That's Bleech, Asprin and Chocolate, in case you didn't know. Bleech to forget bad memories, asprin to get rid of the headache of reading bad stories and chocolate because, eh, who needs a reason for chocolate to be there?

Anyways! Welcome to the crazyness that is the PPC! Mind your first few steps, because if you aren't careful, they'll run off on you. I'm still looking for mine.

Spambots generally reply to anyone who emails them, so don't email them unless you want your inbox clogged beyond belief with spam. No-one's going to look at the email contents, they're just going to add your address to the 'Email addresses that exist' column.

...if there's an Orchestra, why not some sort of ballet/dance company?

The amount of Agents who can dance credibly might be small, but shove them into the corps de ballet, find a couple who are pretty talented to dance as soloists, and you've got instant ballet.

And, of course, the Orchestra would provide their music. :P

The PPC Dance Ensemble, or whatever it would be called, would have such gems in their repertoire as "Sue Lake," the tragic tale of an Agent, cursed to be a 'Sue, and her ex-partner, who predictably winds up hunting Sues in the same area. Also included is the shapeshifter!Sue Odile, who mimics the cursed Agent to attempt to trap the ex-partner.

Another possibility is "The Sue-cracker," a story about a young girl who has always dreamed of becoming a PPC agent when she grows up. One night, she has an incredibly realistic dream about the toy she got for Christmas - a sort of humanoid automaton designed to pursue 'Sues, perhaps? - becoming life-sized, and she grows to become the Agent she might someday be. They then proceed to take a mystical journey through several canons, eliminating a few 'Sues on the way. The canon characters thank them by means of an entertaining dance before sending them on their way.

...and so on. I was in dance class today and these gems popped up while I was really supposed to be paying attention. It would be a shame to let them go to waste.

Dunno how viable an idea this is - I mean, it would require actual spare time - but hey, what the heck.

Agent Logan plays violin/viola/mandolin, and would like to audition for the post of concertmaster.

Entropy plays oboe, and Kern will give timpani a go if you need to press gang him

Elcalion (actually just returned from actual symphony orchestra rehearsal, believe it or not!)

Not very well, but she can. So, she is being volunteered by me.

He is a meglomaniac and loves a challange. This sounds like a good place for him, in that it will be alot of fun.

Oh, favourite pieces of music: anything in 15-16 time and over 100 pages in length. "Hear them squeal" is is his motto.

Agent Trojie would like to volunteer her skills on the guitar. She can play acoustic or electric.

Boarder!Trojie can also play the bagpipes, if that's any use...

Murtagh plays violin, as any good detective does. Titus sings bass/baritone, and can play the cymbals.

But that's not really an instrument. In addition, she sings very low, usually taking male or villian parts in anything with lyrics. But it doesn't work so well for an orchestra. Ah, well. She'll love to watch, though.

(Anyone trying to press-gang Agent Iza will probably regret it. She's close to tone-deaf.)

Orchestra rocks!

Ehm.

Agent Sara plays piano (though she's a little rusty because pianos don't fit all that well in cramped Response Centers) and Agent Zach's trying to teach himself cello (inspired by the PotC soundtrack), which is sorta-kinda working.

So. Yes.

Shadow can play the recorder a little, if your definition of "a little" means "able to screech really loudly and that's about it". Because that's all she can do.

She'll probably only get brought out for "In the Hall of the Badfic".

Redd has actually proved to be quite good on the xylophone, and Jill...uh...can play the harp, but it's better not to have her do so because it makes anyone in the immediate vicinity want to sing some nauseatingly happy Disney song. Sue-aura and all.

Stormsong might end up being press-ganged. He's an expert on the lute, but he's also incredibly sensitive to poorly-played music, so he'll probably try to fake death flashbacks to get out of having to join in and/or shout a lot at the players he doesn't think are taking it seriously ...

Dustin plays the string bass, Tawaki sings baritone, Five of Six plays a harp, the Sixth Disentangler plays the Kloo horn, and Iskillion plays a trombone when in Human, Vulcan, or Yuuzhan Vong morph.
In addition, Dustin has written an oratorio entitled "Bleeprin," about an Assassin who has just MSTed C*l*br**n, LxC, and the Cluny Fic from That Series on a dare and runs back to the Response Center to take Bleeprin ("The Spear, the Orcs!") -- only to find that she is fresh out out (Recitative: "Upon Returning," leading into "Glaurung! Why Now?"). She tries to get some from the Agents next door (Recitivive: "Out the Door," leading into "Need Bleeprin!"), but they are angry at her over something that happened recently and refuse ("You Can Jolly Well Go Mad," leading into "The M&M Debacle"). She runs back to her Response Center to get some General Store change ("Where's my Wallet?"), and the console beeps ("Not Glaurunging Now," leading into "Leela Is Not a Wilting Lily!"). She finds her wallet (Recitative: "The General Store Came First") and dashes down to the General Store, running into people along the way ("Pardon me, Terribly Sorry"). When she arrives (Recitative: "Upon Arrival"), her partner is there, already buying Bleeprin ("We Have a Mission"). She takes a dose and they return to their RC (Recitative: "Still Relatively Sane," leading into the finale "There Is a Sue in Doctor Who").

if only to avoid being press-ganged.

Ansela 'plays' the bagpipes, if by playing you mean randomly blowing into them, rearranging her fingers and squeezing the bag. The result is a sound rather like a whole room of cats being tortured.

Risa plays the ryuteki, and is much better with her instrument than Ansela is. The fact that she's had a couple of centuries to practice might have something to do with this.

Neither of my Agents at the moment are really the musical sort/the type that like signing up for things, but it's a really cool idea.

I wonder, has the orchestra changed its name over time? There's a passing reference to a Caffeine Overload Symphony here, as well as an All-HQ Choir (which is probably no more than what the name says).

Anyway, Agent Robinson would love to join. She can play anything resembling a recorder (though not so much with reeds) and she's not bad on the guitar, either. Not usual symphony stuff, but hey. I wouldn't be surprised if some of her patient occasionally leave musical scores behind when they leave... could be a good source of new material. *g*

Agent Ilraen would probably be interested, too. He would just have to learn to play something that doesn't require a mouth--unless you can keep all concerts to under two hours. {= )

Nume... well, given his history with weapons and tools, I think it's clear that manually-operated hand-held "mechanical" devices in general are not safe around him.

~Neshomeh

Arti would probably go under percussion. He does like to hit things, especially when they don't hit back.. *Chuckles and plots*

And I would volunteer Lunac for conductor, since he's team-orientated, coming from the Pokemon World, but you already said it's under rotation... So, maybe a Recorder? Not too hard, and he can use it hit nearby musicians with! Yay!

As for Liadan... Uh, we'll place her in the flutes. She does know how to play one of those, quite well.

He plays the violin. As he is named after a sonata, he is quite good with classical music. And he loves joining things.

Pads used to play the double bass, reasonably badly, years ago. So if you fancy pinching her a new one from somewhere, she'll happily join. And it's ever such a handy instrument, what with the great bit spike on the bottom.

I would volunteer my agents, but Cassie can't play anything more complicated than the triangle without making horrible noises and Nat's favoured instruments are the air drums and air guitar. Tyler.. well, he's getting quite good and handling technology now, but I'm not sure how he'd react to having a musical instrument shoved at him- he might just be pleased that noboday's trying to hit him with it.

Still, feel free to press-gang them if you like.

Each OFU is hosted and run independently by its home continuum.

~Neshomeh

Once again, a link to the new wiki. Please keep this one in mind for links.

The whole database wasn't moved, so I've done my best to upload what I could. As anyone can tell with a cursory search on there, there are quite a few holes right now, but I'm doing my best to make sure I get everything back up. It's hard to tell what's missing though since the 'Wanted Pages' page has yet to update to show me this.

I'd be more than grateful if people would start signing up on this wiki and helped get it back in order; for instance, many, if not all of the redirects that were in place seem to have died, but this might be due to the fact that everything is taking awhile to get back into place. I don't really know for sure.

In the case of articles that were lost in the move, it'd be brilliant if I could get the saved HTML versions from you, Wandering Critic, since you mentioned your spider had collected them all. As it is though, I'm not sure which/if any were lost since some pages are being tricky and displaying red links to pages that I know for certain are already up. I'm figuring this is due to confusion on the part of the software.

The new Wiki has been set up.

Hopefully one of the Wikia people will be helping get everything from the old wiki's database over there before everything is deleted, but if this is not the case, I've already exported all of the articles (if not talk pages and user pages) so those can be imported if that doesn't work.

Thanks to everyone that offered to help or did help in attempting to preserve everything, and hopefully we'll have this wiki completely set up again before the weekend is over.

My spider is at this very moment sucking up the whole PPC wiki. It collects it as the generated HTML pages, of course, not the underlying data, but in the event that July's export or later import fails, at least we'll have the content -- though we might need a fair bit of cutting and pasting to get some of it back where it belongs.

I wish I could do more, but I can't think of anything else I can do without blowing my anonymity. Given that my hobby is whacking spoiled fanbrats with a clue-by-four, I'd rather make it as hard as possible for them to retaliate with anything more than angry words.

That sucks. Big props to you July, for taking on that extraordinarily crazy task. We owe you big time.

I've spent the last few hours working at it, and I have all of the articles exported and ready for another wiki once the request for the wikia one goes through.

However, I can't do anything about the User pages or talk pages.

User pages because Wikia accounts go for all of wikia, not just one wiki (So can't do that), and talk pages would take far more time than I have right now.

What I have exported though are the articles, templates, and categories, so there won't be too much rewriting going on. Images will need to be reuploaded, though once we get to that.

Hopefully the wikia request will go through, but after that everyone is going to need to change links.

Sorry for all of that, really stupid of me. I considered going to Wikia in the first place for the wiki but decided against since I didn't think this would happen with WikiLot.

I wonder how many people have been caught out by the one-day-notice thing?

In any case, because you got the email in time, and because you're transfering files, and because the whole thing was your idea, I think you should get a 'Saviour of the PPC Wiki' badge or something.

Wow. That's...insane. You insane, dedicated lady. I give you cookies to help you on your endeavor. Holy crap.

Let us know if there's anything we can do, July.

I have some pages saved as html files - only a few, though...

Is it too late for me to volunteer? My email's rsvampiress @ aim. com , also minus spaces.

But is it too late for me to volunteer as well? My email is oozaruangel @ gmail .com (minus the spaces).

If for any reason you don't get the email, or have tech trouble with it, let me know here. Everyone listed below should have recieved it.

Thanks again!

I can be on MSN/Windows Live, and I have lots of time. I use my regular e-mail, exswyzie14 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.

~Neshomeh

Mum keeps going on at me about getting some volunteer work done, so maybe this'll keep her off my back. xD

My email is manxandshadow at gmail dot com, and three-hour interviews won't work 'coz my parents are determined to keep me on the computer for only forty minutes a day. D:

My MSN and Google Chat are the same, justtthedoctor(at)gmail(dot)com.

It could be a little difficult, since I live in England, but I'm thinking maybe 8.00 in the morning UK time?

Firstly, many thanks to everyone who has volunteered. *hugs* I love you guys.

To make a long story short, I did real-time interviews with four people today, and found that it took about three hours per person. (At one point I had three different windows open in two programs, and was going a little mad.) Obviously, this is not a good thing - I don't want to ask that much time of any of you. So it looks like direct interviews aren't going to work.

This is annoying; I wanted to do it real-time so that I could drop questions that had already been answered or obviously didn't apply to said person, and - more importantly - so that if a particularly interesting answer was given, or a new angle came up that I hadn't considered (which happened at least three times already), we could pursue that particular train of thought, which isn't so easy via email.

Sorry, I ramble. In short, unless you happen to have three hours to spare when you see me online, I think we ought to go with emailing. I'd appreciate it if I could ask a few questions afterwards, if something comes up, but if not, no worries.

I'll send out the questions in the morning (it's getting late now) - if anyone volunteers after that, no worries; I'll just send it again.

Thanks again, all. The interviews so far have been fantastic and if this keeps up, my only problem will be getting through all the data before my essay is due!

rosemary_21@hotmail.co.uk

Added you to gtalk (I'm Techno.Dann(at)gmail). I'm about five hours ahead of you, so early in your evening (and late in mine) would probably work best for real-time chatting.

I think you have my MSN already, and my email is cassie . dramateacher at yahoo. co. uk

My MSN is on crack (meaning it takes literally about 30 tries for me to send a message), however am I correct when I say that I believe you have a Skype account? You can find me there as waffles.of.doom, or e-mail me at celticfirefeet AT hotmail DOT com .

This sounds like fun, and I'd love to be a part of it!

I'd be happy to volunteer - only, I'm temporarily without MSN, long story. If you think it's worth the trouble, my email address is steelwingedvictory@hotmail.com.

This sounds like a whole lot of fun - will you show everyone when it's done?

(And what does OT mean? I feel clueless now. : P )

Very nice! I like seeing Sith with actual personalities, too...though that might just be a side-affect of reading too many Star Wars fics.

He just lost a good portion of his fics, including the two that I reviewed/flamed. Let's see what happens to the last nineteen.

See if we can goad him into taking one of our stories. Or at least, what he THINKS are our stories *Rubs hands together and laughs darkly*

But seriously, I'm gonna try. I'll track down one of my online friends and see if we can tag-team this guy. I'll get bakc to everyone with the results.

I just got this review from him, on the story I have on my reviewing account (I keep it there so fanbrats can't go 'don't criticise me when you haven't written anything').

"THIS IS NOT STOLEN"? Then why is it that this story was copied word for word
from another website? Did you even notify the author in question of what you
were doing? I think not. If you must borrow another story for your own
purposes, whatever they may be, you at least should notify the original author
of your borrowing. Otherwise, it is just theft. I will be reporting you for
plagiarism.

He's accusing me of plagiarism, on a story that I have on FFN and on LJ.

It's actually quite sad, considering he shows an iota of skill in writing - his "warning to the unimaginative" is particularly funny, though I wonder if he copy-pasted that.

I also find the fact that he copy-pasted this into his profile amusing - "98 percent of teenagers do or have tried smoking pot. If you're one of the 2 percent who hasn't, copy & paste this in your profile."

I think he's lying.

Also, anyone notice at the end of one of the copy-pasters - "Ninety-five percent of the kids out there are concerned with being popular and fitting in. If you're part of the five percent that aren't, copy this, put it in you profile, and add your name to the list. AnimeKittyCafe, Hyperactivley Bored, Gem W, Bara-Minamino, Tsuyu Mikazuki, Weasel Chick, Revenant666, dragonsroar, foxdude33, FallenLex, Soelle, Happychica, nwfairy, SciFOXcraft279, Arem, Lee Pyro, LovinaHolmes, Ansela Jonla"

Who's that name at the end of the copy-paste? Why, it looks like our very own Ansela! You'd better check your profile, Ansela, looks like he's pillaging from the PPC...

I wasn't all that nice about it either. Refrained from cursing, since it doesn't do much good on FFN, but still wasn't nice.

This was the reply I got back, via Review Reply and PM
Thank you for your kind and helpful review. It is much appreciated and I
will
use it to improve my writing in the future..

I don't think this guy lives on the same planet as the rest of us. Even Suethors don't respond this way to honest concrit.

Yep, sure, that makes sense. And is perfectly legal as well. (note sarcasm)

Seriously, does he honestly think he can do that? And that's a bit of an extreme response to comments...how exactly is he planning to retaliate, anyway?

"Theory on literature" indeed. Gag me with a spoon.

I wonder if he takes stories from people who leave reviews. Cleo-Alektryon left a review on "The Cannibal Flame," which was published a day before "Draco Malfoy and the Shadowed Fate."

~Neshomeh

He's claiming FENIMORE COOPER'S LITERARY OFFENSES as his own?

Sidious back, post DE? +++ Eternal Domain Error. +++
LUKE/LEIA!? R2/HAN!? +++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot. +++

Sorry, just finished reading his profile. He says he can have a 4,000 Word document returned, beta-read, in under three days.
So, what's our average turn-over rate for the PPC? My last chapter (Robecca) was nearly 8,500 words, and Cassie and Inkling had it return, beta-read in under a day.

Now, should I post a mean little review in every story about stealing stories? It is oh so tempting...
But for now, I'll simply throw the pebbles Cassie gave me at him. Fifty Points if you can get him on the nose!

... or are his rules for writing pinched blatantly from Mark Twain's 'The Literary Offences of Fenimore-Cooper?'

Fail.

There are no words for this situation. Really.

I might have to do a bit of research, see if I can turn up any very similar stories. After all, he as good as says that he's been copy-pasting... wonder if permission was asked for this "research." Probably not.

I like how he puts the words 'theft' and 'plagiarism' in quotes.

Also, 'libel' doesn't go plural like that, as far as I know.

...my brain wants to go curl up and die in a corner now.

...IS looking for another mission ... but they (read I) don't know the continuum. Any volunteers to help out and cowrite?

Since no one else has replied here, I'll offer my services, but I can only beta for technical errors- I'm not familiar with the Undergrads canon.

Err, sorry if I should have asked somewhere else, but what's the Dept. of Character Protective Services?

New agent in the Department of Character Protective Services is ... Agent Veridian Green (name assigned upon joining PPC as he's too embarrassed about his real name and his, ahem, stage name), an ex-stripper/gentleman of negotiable affection from the Discworld (previously employed by Mr Harris of the Blue Cat Club). He will be looking after Wiliam Moseley, Skandar Keynes and Ben Barnes.

Agent Iza of the Department of Mary Sues and formerly of the Department of Bad Slash has volunteered to help him out.

The fic they're taking on first is this:

http://community.livejournal.com/narnia_slash/141879.html#cutid2

WARNING: NSFW, NSFB. Srsly.

Try Lollipop456 from FFN. She's a reformed badfic writer. Well, reforming, anyway; it takes time. Tell her I sent you.

I'd like to answer them, too.

The owner of the journal has said she finds suefic by skimming the front page of the Harry Potte section on FF.net. The website is pottersues(dot)livejournal(dot)com .

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/147795/AJ_Matthews
- AJ Matthews, perpetrator of some of the most horrific LOTR slashfic it has been my displeasure to spork

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1264633/LBTwriter
-Author of LxC ... 'nuff said, right?

I'd rather we stayed here. There's loads of good things about this board, all already listed. If you're particularily worried about your IP address, I'd reccomend using a proxy.

(that is to say, when I was a newbie.)

We've tried a few different alternate forums - one on livejournal, one on Proboards, and I think there was a third as well. None of them took off, though, and I think there's a few basic issues.

Firstly, the thread setup here on the board is quite unique, I have yet to find another place like it. I like being able to see every single post made from the index, I think it adds something to the community.

Secondly, there's a matter of momentum - we've been here for a very long time, getting up and moving would be all kinds of hassle. There are those who have left (either temporarily or permanently) because of security issues (virii, adware, etcetera), but ultimately, if you have decent protection (Firefox, ad-aware, AVG, etcetera), you should be fine - I've never had any trouble with it.

As an addendum to the previous point, there are a lot of websites that link to us here, many of which are no longer updated. If we were to move, we'd be a lot harder for newbies to find, which is a Bad Thing.

There are ways to get around the IP address display - I connect from a big university, where I could be any of twenty thousand people. It would be a lot easier to find and read my livejournal to work out who I am, rather than try to IP trace through my school.

On a more practical note, there are a lot of proxy servers available on the internet - how they work is that you send your internet traffic through them, and it all gets stamped with their IP address rather than yours. I wouldn't trust the free ones with any important data (passwords, credit card numbers, home addresses), but for surfing the Board, they're reasonable.

Finally, if you're really paranoid, there's TOR, which is like a proxy server, but way better. I don't understand all the ins and outs, but a system built to get anonymous traffic through the Great Firewall of China without revealing its source is going to be very, very good. It's also free.

I like the IP addresses, myself - they give just a touch less anonymity, which has come in handy in the past for spotting sockpuppets, trolls, and the like.

And yes, a more conventional forum system has been discussed many, many times, but it always gets shot down.

The IP addresses have been on here since the dawn of this version of the board. Other boards have been suggested and some have actually made it into the beta stage, but they all fell though.

I personally would not want to go to another board system, this one works just fine. Old threads get pushed off, there is no bump up of threads, and everything is right here on one page.

Now there are some things that I don`t like (such as the threads having writting under them in the topic lines) but it has worked for a long time (I have been posting since 2002).

So while it has been tried, I would not want to go to another board system. And, I am fine with having the IP addresses showing, since they help to eliminate trolls.

Leto

The benefits of being in a university hall, huh?

... but I'm rather trusting. On the other hand, I'd have no objection at all to creating a new forum for ourselves with a different program/server.

...and I also think no-one has ever really given it that much thought. Either we're all too preoccupied or we're too trusting :P

We don't usually pay them much attention. I think the last time anyone noticed them was when a troll had the same IP address as one of the Boarders. Turned out they were both using the same school computer.

I think thought has been given, but the Board has worked well for a very long time, so the thought hasn't been very serious.

The Board has been showing the IP addresses of the poster for at least a year (I say at least a year since that's about how long I've been posting here). From what I know, none of us can shut it off, my guess is that that is a setting that an administrator for the board would need to do if it is possible, but I think it has been years since the person who set up the board (P@L, if I'm thinking right) has had a presence here.

From what I know, looking at archived pages from the Way Back Machine as well as various links and pages from the LJ community, there have been a few times where the Board has given serious consideration to switching to a different venue, at least once due to a serious trolling problem, but despite that, this particular sort of forum has been stuck with for at least five years.

And that's about as much as I know.