Jul 2013 Archive, part c

What instrument do you play?

I'm really glad to see this, because I've been meaning to e-mail you for... probably about a month and a half, actually... to apologize for the massive amounts of procrastination I've been doing. It's sort of a relief to know that it wouldn't have gotten through before now, even though it doesn't excuse me. I'm actually on a really good doing-stuff kick right now (and I mean to keep it that way), so did you still want me to look over that mission?

Either way, welcome back! I hope the gig was fun in spite of the 'net isolation.

~Neshomeh

It's good to see you back.
I hope you had fun. As a welcome back gift, here are some self-aware adjectives.

One: I do want permission, but that obviously isn't happening.

Second: I DO socialize with PPCers; I just use the IRC.

Three: First and foremost, I want feedback and concrit. For instance, is the Marquis de Sod in-character? What is everyone's opinion on Yorick and Valon?

I'd like to know how well I've done, because otherwise I'll assume I've done horribly.

1) The last time you posted this story is still on the front page. And that time was called "revisited", so you've clearly posted about this story three times now.

2) Outside of plugs for this story, you haven't posted or commented on anything on the front page. Looking at the page before this, you posted quite a lot but, again, primarily plugs for your own writing (including the third instance of this story). You haven't commented on anything anyone else has brought up, that I can tell.

3) Is this a permission request? I honestly can't tell, and this isn't the first time you've been vague about this.


As a Permission Giver, this stuff really annoys me. It feels to me that you are not interested in the community, at all. You seem to just be looking for feedback on your stories and, if you don't get enough, posting over and over until you get it. If that is the case, it is not cool.

Also, this obsession with permission is getting really old. At least half of your posts are centered around it. To add to that, we can't even tell if you are requesting permission or not.


So how do we keep this from being a problem?

1) Be clear with what you are asking. Do you want feedback on the story? Are you in the market for a beta? Is this a permission request? Then tell us. It is the only way to get what you are looking for. We are not mind readers.

2) Post once and let what happens happen. You won't always get the level or type of feedback that you want. It happens to all of us. You have to learn to accept that. Being clear with what you want will help with that, but there are no guarantees.

3) Talk to other people about things they are interested in. There is nothing wrong with wanting to talk about what interests you, but if that is all you ever do then it turns people off. Join in a discussion that is in progress. Give feedback on someone else's story.

-Phobos

I really enjoyed this story. I think you struck a really nice balance between humor and drama. I also liked the way that Skeet made his transition through the first part of the story. It made a whole lot of sense, but it wasn't an instantaneous reversal. You did well in showing the level of trust that Skeet has for Amy.

I do have to say that the memory at the beginning of that section threw me off a little. I felt like maybe you had left the italics on, accidentally. It took me a minute to realize what was going on. I don't know how to address that, though.

I loved the inclusion of the Sunflower's Witness. She is a personal favorite of mine, and it is always nice to see her get some love.

There were a couple of really good lines in here. The description of the voice on the other side of the door never having been so insulted was awesome. The bag of holding and system of pulleys also got a laugh.

Again, well done. I look forward to seeing where this goes.



-Phobos, who needs to get some work done on his own future story.

First, if there are Boarders clicking on this post for some reason, I'm going to be mentioning a lot of plot developments and such from the The Wrong Trousers story, so if you, unknown Boarders, plan to read that story, read it before reading this, because of spoilers. Okay? Good. On to questions, then.

Wait, so the Board of Flowers, despite knowing from a visit in their past that a group known as the Department of Efficiency was going to bring them down, decided to set up a group specifically to seek and correct inefficiencies and just didn't call it the same thing? And this happened after the loss of two of their Firstborn and the resurgence of a DIS-like group, but nobody takes the hint that something off was going on?
The PPC's more seasoned workers and Flowers are extremely genre savvy, as a rule. Giving a group that serves solely to increase efficiency control over HQ's system seems exactly like what formed the original problem in the first place, which seems like far much tempting of both fate and the Ironic Overpower to be a typical Flower response. Did the Sunflower Official's death just cause everyone to backpedal into fatalistic attachment to a timeline long separated?

And who is James Mansfield? The story implied that he was some sort of multi-universal resource manager, which is confusing in itself, but did he just show up in HQ one day, give them his card, and say "Hiya, I'm here to go through your entire system and change the way you've been recruiting people for decades."? Because recruiting from the Word Worlds has been how it is for a reason, namely, that the PPC doesn't want to advertise its presence in the multiverse.
The whole "Protectors" bit in their name means they ensure that everything goes as written in the timelines of the various continua they encounter. They recruit bits from stories that have been destroyed, because the story that the bits came from will fade away anyway and have no effect on the canon of the world they're protecting. They kill Sues because the Sues destabilize events as written. It goes against their moral ground to enter into Word Worlds and grab random people from continua to join them, because those people were supposed to be in the continua playing out their roles in the canon. The PPC is terminally understaffed, yes, but that's just an out-of-universe hand wave for why they recruit so many sociopaths and maniacs and the like, and not something that would be dealt with in an official capacity, since doing so in a manner like the one here would involve breaking the intended secrecy the organization operates under.

What does the Department of Time, Order and Motion actually do? They were mentioned as being in charge of "invigorating" the DMS, creating stable time loops around HQ for some reason, and sending robots from an alternate dimension to roam the halls, but those three functions don't really fit together to say what the Department's function is.
They were obviously intended as a Department of Efficiency analogue, to the point that they are referred to as the Department of Efficiency multiple times, and don't get me wrong, I really like the idea of the Tick-Tock Men(though this may be in part because I've got a clockwork agent-to-be myself), but the DTOM's functions seem kind of sporadic and unconnected. In particular, what are the time loops for? I can maybe understand going forward and backward in time to plan out how best to optimize the next few days, but why set up time loops in HQ? Are they using the looming threat of damage to the pre-set time loops to control people? I'm just spitballing here, since there wasn't evidence of anything.

Why does the DTOM discourage keeping minis, and what do they do with the ones created by new badfics? Having minis around would keep the creatures out of both the continua, where they could potentially do damage, and HQ's main facilities, where there would be plenty of them and they would form a tax on the resources, which would go against their designs on an optimized PPC. Besides, the Agents keeping minis would be similar to keeping pets, and it would likely help in terms of morale, since the DTOM's actions would likely result in the rise of uncertainty in the workers.
And as I asked before, what are they doing with the minis? You said all minis were brought to "a drab, soulless place", but what would the DTOM gain from doing that? There's no logical benefit in keeping the minis, who if I may remind you are fully sentient and sapient beings in their own right, in what amounts to a massive prison chamber, especially when you consider how likely they are to cause trouble when cooped up with other minis in a confined space. How do they keep the minis from busting out, running around doing damage, or teaming up to scheme on the downfall of their captors? Do they keep them all in stasis or something?

I don't have much to say about the bit in Skeet and Amelia's RC, other than that I liked the way it played out, especially with Skeet sounding like the reasonable one even though the people who side with a resistance are normally the designated good guys. Shame that story possibility sort of fell through in the next scene.

Why does the Ghost just decide to show up on their console after they kill the DTOM agents? It was made clear no one in the RC knew it, or posibly even of it, and it didn't really do anything other than show up, say that it would tell the resistance that the DTOM attacked some DMS agents, which shouldn't be news to the resistance at any rate, and then vanish from the story. Was it just floating around the network when Skeet killed three people through a door, and then just decided "oh look it is a prime opportunity to meddle i would be disappointing myself if i would not get involved in such a jewel of meddling history"?

The scene in the Cafeteria was great, I must say, one of the gems of the story. "12:35 – shoot a Tick-Tock Man in the face". Classic. I can just imagine a flat, strident +++What+++ getting ready to emerge from its vocalizers before Skeet shoots it.

And what do you mean by the story being AU for everyone except your agents? What would this mean for anyone who co-writes with you, which would by default place their agents within the same world as yours? Or is this related to some spoilerrific future development that will result in the AU Skeet and Amelia merging with the main Skeet and Amelia or something of the sort?

Oh, also, I found comma splices. “Hey, the DAC proposal got blocked by the Board, you don’t have anything to worry about.” That second comma should be a period and the end of a sentence. “Regulators, open up!” The sentence as it is now is telling the Regulators to open their door, rather than the DMS agents. To get the message you more likely wanted, that comma should be a period or an exclamation point.

And, yet again: Look What You Made Me Do.



(I know it's not exactly as mentioned in the story - you can assume this is the 'I don't have my template handy' version)

(Calligraphy is surprisingly hard to do with a mouse)

(What, puns? Me? No, you must be seeing things...)

hS

However, most of the talents Kirk has in this fic are ones he has in TOS canon, I believe, and his flaws are lit upon and examined. I have to admit, when I first read the fic I was a bit wary of the possibility of sun shining from every orifice, but I think it's well-written and dealt with well enough all in all.

But Kirk is already multitalented in canon. I haven't read far, but if they touch on some of his flaws - disregarding authority and being reckless - it won't be Suvian at all. I like it so far, actually.

Mary Sues are always bad, but a character can have Suvian traits without being a Sue.

Rapunzel from Tangled is sometimes used as an example.

But... Slash? I really don't like the stuff. Just answering your final question.

Yes, I'm pretty sure I did. If not, someone recommended it to me once.

I...think I liked it too? Sorry, it's obviously been rather a while since I read it...

I also don't think I've ever met you, so I'll assume you joined/returned sometime in the past month. Hi! I'm DawnFire; nice to meet you! Here, have some Swiss Bleepolate and some Gummyblee IDICs as a welcome [back] gift :)

~DF

But what's a K/S fanfic? I want to join the discussion too! (and I can't know that if I've no idea what you're talking about...)

Could I have a link to it?

*throws even more confetti* IT'S THE ALMIGHTY CONFETTI APOCALYPSE! Flee! Flee!

Yay, another Buffy fan! I wasn't aware we had any, although that may just be because I've only gotten into the show recently. I've been on vacation as well, which I may or may not have forgotten to mention. *shifty eyes*

Anyway, hi again, and have a jiggly boomerang, because those two words are fun to say and even more fun to say when put together.

Here, have a... have a... Okay, just have a cupcake. It'll magically conform to your personal flavor preferences and regenerates immediately after consumption. :D

-- Len

Curses! The tribbles have eaten too many of the fallen Gummyblee tanks, and some started to breed! I'm going to need to set up some sort of barrier to keep them from spreading, or we'll be overrun!

Or I could just throw them into a Sarlaac's mouth and let them go into a vicious cycle of breeding and being digested. Nah. I don't want to choke the poor Sarlaac.

So, as it turned out, nobody actually ended up writing more of the Sue Lord mission when you were away, which is good because you can contribute in the same ratio you already were, and bad because that was three weeks of nobody writing anything. (coughs in embarrassment) That worked out how it worked out, I guess.

Now allow me to ply you with baked goods.
*Shoves cookies at you*

It's great to see you again. I've fallen back into semi-lurker mode myself, even if I'm in the middle of writing various things. I'm doing great, and it's awesome to hear that it's the same for you.

Hi again!

*something falls on head*

Ouch! Stop tossing tribbles everywhere!

-Aila

Well, I'm just beginning to prepare my sahur. I guess I could have this instead. How's the moving going? Hectic, I guess? If you wish for more of Supernatural, I heard there is an anime you can watch. Dean looks more handsome there, but the anime hadn't done Sam justice. Check it out.

Oh yes.

*rips many pieces of coloured paper, and sprinkles it lazily at DawnFire's direction*

I also just got back to the PPC after a month and a half of playing opera, though you wouldn't know it from my Library updates. (Thanks to TacoMagic for taking care of that for me. :D)

But yeah, fun times are had for all. I'm doing awesome, how're you?

(Catches Swiss Bleepolate) Ooh! Yum.

And, yes I just got back the other day from an extended vacation as well... so...

A somewhat awkward greeting?

Have a fluffy velociraptor!

Do you mean native to the continuum, or specialized in the continuum, or with Doctor Who as one of their fandoms, or what exactly?

Anyway, I remember seeing a Doctor Who OFU a while ago, but it fell to the OFU Curse and was never finished, so I figure it's about time someone else made one. If you want to write it, I'm sure plenty of us here would read it.
What exactly do you want here? Beta-readers, suggestions on PPC characters to include, people to give you ideas for WhOFU idiosyncrasies, or what exactly?
I might personally be able to help out with most of those I mentioned, by the way. Just in case.

Ever since I watched ClementJ642's LPs of the Mega Man games, I've been an avid watcher of Let's Plays. I also like BrainScratch Comms, newfiebangaa, Hellfire Commentaries, pokecapn, the Runaway Guys (collectively and individually), medibot, The Strawhat NO, and The Dark Id.

Don't laugh at me, but I watch the Yogscast's Let's Plays. Not Simon and Lewis but the other members like Hannah and Rythian. I also watch Rabbidluigi's Let's Plays, especially as he seems to do Games that I grew up with.

I watch a few every now and again. Let's Players like TheStawHatNo, Chuggaconroy and The Runaway Guys, ScottishDuck17, Freelance Astronauts... (I also recommend the LP archive more more fun Let's Plays).

Finally, I'm a huge fan of Cryotic's Bioshock Infinite Let's Play. He's just so fun to listen to...

Although I'm not particular to anyone, as long as they do Medieval 2 Total War or its mods.

My favorite LPers currently are Helloween4545, MasaeAnela, and, of course, the guys over at Rooster Teeth

I prefer Cryoatic Monki. I like his stories. :)

Ooh nice.

Now if only they did more games that I liked...

But then, it'd be weird if I did, as I wasn't there for it :)

I did wonder if agents had ever done anything in memory of those lost in the big events, besides simply carving their names into the Tomb, so this was cool to see. A very enjoyable read, and the seperate sections you've put it into make it much easier to follow the different storylines than the original RP.

Thanks for sharing this.

You also said that you'd done a little light editing on the posts to correct minor SPaG issues etc., and I spotted a couple of bits that I think slipped through that:
- Part 2 has the line 'he whipped off his foggy glasses and cleaned them carefully on his shirt, taking the time to wipe eyes eyes' - that should probably read 'his eyes'.
- Part 5 has '"Known him practically since I joined up, and he's saved my life more times tan I can remember off the top of my head' - that should probably be 'than', although some agents are slurring their words by this point, the speaker here doesn't seem to have made any other mistakes.

Logging is always nice, and I salute you for bringing back this golden oldie.

Very shiny indeed. :D

In retrospect it's really melodramatic and generally bleh, but it's still cool seeing it around, much as I'd like to retcon huge chunks of it. Thanks for the find. :P

I enjoyed both stories. ^^

I would have liked to see what happened at the party, but I guess it was just about how they made it happen at all, after Crashing Down. As such, it works well: everyone's reactions to the invitation are unique and say something about them as people. I did half-expect the whole thing to mushroom until half of HQ was invited, but I'm also glad it didn't, since it would've been the obvious thing. Not-obvious is good.

As for "Hello, Hello!", again, I enjoyed it, as I said before, and it was a good read, a very good read. ^~ ... I wonder if the DRD and RDR ever get together for social functions. Just imagine the conversations they could have!

~Neshomeh

Wow...talk about a disappointing newbie!

I admit I didn't totally remember everyone from Crashing Down who appears in "Winding Down," but I do remember how tense Crashing Down was, and all the suffering that happened. So "Winding Down" was exactly what its title says: a moment of calm and a return to normalcy for the characters involved. That made it feel good to read, even if I didn't specifically remember the history of each character. One typo, in the scene where Constance invites Steve: "There were more important things to thing about, though."

"Hello, Hello!" makes an excellent companion piece to "Greetings and Hello." I like how the Cilantro's "identity" is kept ambiguous, and also the fact that the two departments have such intriguingly similar circumstances occurring. I want to hear Haar and Orinoco have a conversation together, now (assuming they aren't the same robot getting job duties mixed up, although the Cilantro's comment about Orinoco's recruitment makes that unlikely). One typo: In the sentence where Orinoco first gives his(?) name, he refers to himself as "Orinico" at the end.

1) That'd be up to whoever runs it - Laburnum, IIRC.

2) Why would he be in an OFU? I mean, occasionally PPC Agents visit OFU, but I don't think there's a reason to enter one. If you wanted to have him visit, then he'd be in his own form.

3) That depends entirely on the agent. They're used to seeing strange things, remember - most would probably demand that he put some clothing on, because ye gods the blindness. And yes, self-preservation would be a plus, considering that in the multiverse, there's a way to kill anything. An agent who literally cannot be killed or destroyed in any way would be a bit dull, don't you think? More fun to read about something when there's an actual risk involved.

4) Don't. Just... don't. I would not be a fan of a bunch of godlike, immense, physics-violating beings just... randomly tossed into the PPC. I am especially concerned with Green, who could apparently destroy all life, and Grey, because any character with the word "rape" or "mind rape" in their one line description sends up flashing alarm bells. The last time I remember seeing something this powerful and massive in the PPC was the Mysterious Somebody, and that was a long, multi-year story arc done by an experienced writer.

I am very, very wary of just tossing a bunch of massively overpowered godlike beings into the PPC just for the hell of it. Stick to agents. Normal, everyday, realistic agents with character depth. Then, when you know you can convincingly write characters in this setting, we can talk about the interesting things.

What is their opinion on one giving up entirely? It just popped up in HFA while I was reading, but doesn't appear to go anywhere. What do the canons and coordinators think of students who just resign to a lack of skill and give up on writing entirely?

Something tells me that even OFUs wouldn't be cruel enough to encourage this course of action. Or inaction. Whatever.

Seem a fair bit too edgy and weird to be interacted with in the PPC setting.

Then again I wouldn't really know, considering who I am.

This Account (Renata M Zanotti) is an old account. My New Account is now now Drama_Twist as you see. Yeah.....uh.

Welcome to the PPC!
I know that you've been asked this quite a few times, but what continua are you a fan of? For example, some of my fandoms include Pokemon, Bakugan, Artemis Fowl, and Star Trek: Voyager.

Also, have you read the PPC Constitution and the Original Series?

Welcome to the Board! For your newbie gift, I bestow upon you a toaster, polka-dotted in Suvian colors and equipped to shoot pastries at high velocity.

Welcome, friend. As a gift, I give you this lined Infinite Notebook, complete with an urple cover and wilver binding. Look away and save your eyes the horror.

-Aila

Have a lovely self-aware adjective. This Awake is sure to keep you up for all intents and purposes. Remember to feed it plenty of caffeine, or it will multiply like mad.

Dia duit! For your gift, take this flawed teleporter! It suspends you between overlapping realities so you can become intangible. The only problem is that it super charges your atoms into a unstable cloud explodium, and you have to find some other way back home. It took me about 901 years to work it out! By the way, your bonus gift is trivia is finding out what language I greeted you in. Its gaelic derived, and comes from a area known for clovers of a symmetrical type.

Here, have an anti-pastry plasma gun for purposes of defending yourself against the duplicate Elemental Cupcake Lords I have apparently unleashed on the PPC!

How d'you do? And yes, which fandoms do you like?

As a greeting gift, have a feathery boa constrictor! (Don't worry, it's tame.)

Hey, have some cookies.

I would like to welcome you to the PPC as well.

Here, have my everlasting FRIENDSHIP.

Here's your gift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUamHEvVQy0

Sorry that it's a thesis, but it would be rather fun once you finished it.

Welcome to the PPC! We love newbies here, so feel free to stay and join us. Just leave your sanity at the door, and we'll be all cool here!

As a welcome gift, have some music by Dutilleux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhfESb2OG2E

(Also, out of curiosity... what fandoms are you involved in?)

Rule 37 and (as I like to call it) the Rule of Blarg are in effect. I define the Rule of Blarg as: the cuter and fluffier the canon, the weirder and more disturbing the fics.

I have seen examples of this everywhere.

I've spent the past month or so developing an obsession with Doctor Who, and, as is inevitable, I eventually went and looked for fic. Namely, I've been trawling the Pit's crossover archives for said fandom, and, though I'd expected it... Well, let's just say *shudder*

-Aila

Personally, I'm apprehensive about some of the crossover action that is sure to be caused by Pacific Rim, judging by the Internet traffic. Everyone seems to want their pairing- whether a Sue is involved or not- to be drift compatible, and it will be far too easy to twist personalities and canon to suit their ideals.

A lot of the fic is sure to be great. Some of it, however, will almost definitively need surveillance.

I don't like the author bashing in this. I stopped reading at "Meet my author. Her name is Jessica; she's thirteen years old and has the mentality of a slow witted chimp on unhealthy quantities of crack." Here is the thing, the author of this story is using this character, who is a Mary Sue in name only, as a mouthpiece to bash authors and the people reading this fic. It is full of hate for real people.

I don't know why people come to the defense of fictional characters while spewing vitriol at real people, I really don't.

This is a really good example of what the PPC should NOT be. These are the kinds of things we discourage.

-Phobos

Hmm...I agree with Neshomeh that this author shows a lot of promise. However, she also shows a lot of fangirl traits at the same time. She's a 'Sue alright, as you can see, Cyretnizzy's like this perfect girl-version of Harry. But we can always sent these kind of Suethors to HFA.

Accidentally submitted before I could give a link - here. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9213793/1/SWTCW-Cancer

Enter at your own risk.

How long has it been since I've last been on here? *scratches head*

Anyway, here's a little something for the Star Wars agents -

A rather NSFB fic which features Ahsoka getting cancer. Now, I admit, when done correctly, a premise like that can work out really well. But...well, let's just say that there's a reason I rated this thing NSFB.

The author has absolutely no understanding of how cancer works at all, and according to her llllooovvveellllyy *sarcasm* author's note, doesn't give a crap at all. Seriously, take a peek at that author's note (written in the last 'chapter'). The poor thing has appearantly been taking lessons from Steph Meyer.

I've already critiqued the bad fic, and I've tried to reason with the author via DeviantArt, but her only response was to act like the self-entitled brat that she appears to be.

So...yeah. Have fun with this thing, PPC-ers.

I think this author actually shows a lot of promise. Aside from the obviously silly things—the name, having a prophecy about her, being a metamorphmagus on top of being a parselmouth (which actually makes sense if Voldemort is her father), liking bands and TV shows that don't exist yet, etc.—I think the setup makes enough sense to work as an AU and doesn't throw Voldemort too OOC, and the actual behavior of Cyretnizzy and Meagan strikes me as believable for their situation.

The biggest problem I'm seeing is that we're being instructed to think that Cyret's mom is bad for not loving her and that Cyret is pure good, despite having hateful (but understandable!) feelings of wanting to hurt the mother who's been hurting her by withholding affection her whole life. Take out the silliness and the narrative force-feeding us what to think from the get-go, and there could really be a story here, with the theme of choice that's so important to the Potterverse. Will Cyret overcome her heritage and poor upbringing and choose forgiveness over bitterness and hate, or will her mother's fears be the real prophecy that comes true? That, my friends, is an interesting character dilemma.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, it looks like the author is open to concrit. Let's give her some, yes?

~Neshomeh

...Wow. Just wow. That Sue's name is absolutely awful, and that's as far into the fanfic as I really want to go.

On the note of coming back after way too long and finding badfic, have a Naruto fanfic or two.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9467722/1/Naruto-The-Lightning-Demon
Possible trigger warnings for the above story: Paedophilia, mentions of child abuse/child neglect, incest.

The reasons why it's cringe-worthily bad: On top of the terrible grammar and spelling mistakes, there's extreme OOCness, canon-breaking without rhyme or reason, Gary Stu!Naruto, Harem, bashing of multiple characters, random genderbending in order to create aforementioned harem.

I also found another Naruto badfic on Quotev while glancing at the 'fic linked by Kitt.
http://www.quotev.com/story/3487421/Lustful-blood/
Couldn't find anything truly disturbing about it except for the fact that the 'Sue seems to be a victim of child abuse, but it's certainly quite... interesting. (Grammar check on that last lower-case "I" at the beginning of "interesting"? I've been working on my own writings lately, and it'd be useful to know whether or not it's correct. And I trust fellow grammar nazis, of course.

Meagan could not love her daughter. In fact, she could hardly stand to look at her. How could she when this baby was also HIS baby? She was bound to be just as horrible, and Meagan was terrified of her....her own daughter, her own flesh and blood.

Unable to care for this child, which had an arguably horrible name to boot, she laid her down in front of an orphanage and turned her back to the wizarding world, living the life of a muggle.

Cyretnizzy, or Christina, as she was called now, was adopted by a wizard couple unable to get children on their own. They treated her well, even pampered her, for she was the most valuable thing in their lives.

She went on to go to Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Ravenclaw for her smarts and way of thinking. Her grades weren't the best, but she was doing quite well.

When the war came, Christina and her parents went into hiding, not knowing just who her father was.

Voldemort, as he had never cared about either wife or child, dismissed her existence, since she was just yet another wizard to him.

After the war, Christina returned to Hogwarts to finish her education. She became a fabulous witch and lived a mostly happy life.

The end.

As overused as the premise is, the author seems to be pretty good at what they do - all of the characters seem to be behaving normally, and the human behaves in a logical, believable way.

Although I might not be the best judge, I'd second the recommendation as goodfic. The only problems I've found are very minor grammar issues that I'm not 100% sure about myself.

Overall - despite the highly overused premise and liberties taken with explaining futuristic laws of physics and magic - I do very much like this.

I'm deleting the doc, but I wish that someone could delete threads.

I didn't realize that the idea would be so inflammatory. I'm sorry that I brought it up in the first place.

I have taken what everyone has said into account. Thus, I am going to do this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kl-PH8UxCULNz0QVAqWEnQUmHUXCEk0em3xKJ9261rA/edit

Clicking on the above link will take you to a Google Doc that all of you are free to edit.

If you want to have your agents listed, awesome! Feel free to sign and post the characters you would like featured on the page.

Please do not feel that you're obligated to do anything. This is just for fun, and it it isn't such for you, then by no means are you required to sign.

Hopefully this is a good plan, and that it makes things happen!

I didn't realize things between the PPC and TV Tropes were this bad.

As Phobos pointed out, we already have our own wiki with articles about a great many of our characters, and there's already a TVT article about us that directs people to said wiki. What would the PPC gain from the page you're proposing that we don't already have on our own site?

Full disclosure: I was one of the people involved in the attempt to broaden our representation on TVT. I'm not a fan of their administration or their policies.

~Neshomeh

I would recommend not making the page. The PPC, as an organization, has not had a good relationship with TV Tropes. It is kind of a sore spot for some people.

Also, we have a perfectly good wiki already. In fact, you can read up on our experience with TVT on it.

-Phobos

Thank you for writing and posting this. I know you weren't exactly eager to do it, but I agree with you that it needed to be said - and I think you said it well.

hS

... can be found here on T-Board. I know we already have a big pot of Serious Business going around right now, making this possibly not the best time for another serious thread, but VM wanted this put together, and so I did.

I might chime in on this thread with something relevant later.

Specifically, that it takes both sides participating equally to resolve a problem. I hope I'm not overstepping myself if I elaborate.

There's a tool we use in the UU young adult cons I attend. Basically, it boils down to this:

Person A accidentally says something that offends or hurts their friend, Person B.

1. Person B says, "Hey, that thing you said hurt me."
2. Person A says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I meant something else."
3. Person B says, "I understand that you didn't mean it. I forgive you, but try not to say that again, okay?"
4. Person A says, "Okay, I promise."

The conflict is resolved, Persons A and B are still friends. (Optional hugs here.)

I realize this is extremely simplified, and that real life is more complicated; and this does presume that both parties are acting in good faith and desire to come to a mutually satisfactory understanding. Because assuming good faith is part of our Constitution, I think this process can be applied to us.

I've seen too many conversation breakdowns happen at step 3. Specifically, Person B does not accept Person A's apology for whatever reason, and no forgiveness is offered. This makes it impossible for the conversation to move forward. Person B still feels hurt, Person A is unable to atone for it. No one is happy, and no one can fix it. This is a bad, unfair situation.

Conflict resolution takes two. Person A must be willing to accept responsibility and apologize for what they said, Person B must be willing to accept their apology and let everyone move on. Both parties must do their part for a mutually satisfactory resolution to be possible.

That's what I believe.

~Neshomeh

I don't have a lot to add, but I do have a question. What's 'ableism'?

I'm happy that people are finally speaking out about things that have been bugging me myself for a while now, even though I'm kind of not quite here any more.

As someone who's tone is... Frequently not what people are used to here, I feel that things do need a slight adjustment for the sake of accessibility. Not everyone is used to being polite on the internet all the time, this is something I know from experience and being in communities all across the scale of formality, but yeah, technical non-person speaking.

Just thought I'd say that I personally think that the Constitution is pretty clear on the whole 'getting along with each other' thing. I think it basically boils down to (and if you feel I've misread it, please correct me):

Try not to be a dick.

If you feel you have been a dick, or someone else feels that you have, work out any differences maturely and intelligently, while keeping #1 in mind.

Everyone is welcome, and entitled to their own opinion, while keeping #1 in mind.

I'm not implying that I think the Constitution shouldn't change, just that from my perspective I'm happy with it.

I can't say anything about the IRC as I never venture there.

Whilst I've not actually seen any of the violation/skirting of the Constitution (besides the post linked) I have been in groups in the past that have torn themselves apart because of similar issues being left to grow. Whilst not saying that such a thing would happen here I feel something should be done to resolve the issues that this matter has raised.

I'm not saying that Flame's or any other types of bullying or harassment should be allowed but something needs to happen to cool things down and hopefully prevent something like this from happening again.

Allow me to reiterate what are, to me, the most salient points of what VM just said.

We have a Constitution for a reason, kids, learn it, love it, live by it. Or at least post by it. In light of recent(ish) events, I point specifically to

5. All respectful opinions that do not attack, insult, or persecute others (see Article 1) are welcome. We encourage respectful, friendly debates here. Should a debate escalate into an argument for any reason, everyone involved should step back and calm down before continuing. If this cannot be done, it may be best to abandon the conversation entirely.

6. Everyone in the PPC Community should be respected as people, regardless of who they are. The opinions of a newbie are just as valid and wanted as those of someone here for four years. Everyone deserves respect until they show themselves to be unashamedly disrespectful themselves, which means people who show disrespect and discrimination as per Article 1 do not warrant respect based on those views. However, not warranting respect does not mean they do not warrant politeness. This means you are not allowed to descend into flaming and insulting them, but instead should follow Article 9.

Also, something I've noticed is that people here seem to go from 'just fine' to 'Full Flame Mode' in a matter of 2-3 posts. This is unacceptable. This is not a community for shouting, for name-calling, for any sort of flaming whatsoever, period, the end, no exceptions. If someone posts something that offends you, you do not have carte blanche to respond in a way that offends them. Especially if it offends everyone else in the process. If you absolutely MUST speak your mind, do so via e-mail.

Finally, I hate watching my friends fight. And I do, rightly or wrongly, consider each and every one of you a friend. But what I hate worse is watching friendships break down because, in the aftermath of a fight, people stop talking to each other. There's no reconciliation, there's no discussion. Most times, people simply stop speaking, and their friendship withers. It kills me to watch that happen. So please, don't do it, for your own sake, and everyone else's. Talking helps.

Perhaps not for right now, but:

We have a game called Fill the Plothole wherein someone posts a selection of funny or odd fanfic summaries on the Board, and people write short stories based on any of the summaries that strike their fancy, "filling the plothole" of the summary in the process. Usually these end up being humorous, but they don't have to be. You can see examples from previous games here.

It's not a competition and agents aren't involved,* but you could definitely pick all summaries from Potterverse fics if you wanted to start a game sometime.

~Neshomeh

* Usually. People *coughmecough* have used FtP as a platform to write mini faux-missions, but that's not the point of the game. At all.

I'd be interested in doing something like this, however I agree with Phobos' second and third points.

There are some merits to what you are proposing. Encouraging people to write is always fun. We've had writing contests before, with varying degrees of success. So the idea can definitely work. I would just caution you on a couple of things.

First off, being as specific as which fandom to write in might turn people off of the idea. Some people may not like Harry Potter, or they may want to do something else. Widening the focus a little might not be a bad idea.

Secondly, your idea hinges on everyone getting permission, which is unrealistic. There are going to be a few people who just are not ready for it. So, I would again shift the focus to something that doesn't require permission. This will allow everyone to participate.

Thirdly, while you may get some people to participate for writing tips (hS runs a writing challenge that runs on everyone involved giving concrit to at least one other participant), you might have better luck with some other type of incentive.

Really, all of that is logistical. If you can find a way to make it work, then there is no reason not to give it a try.

-Phobos

As was wisely pointed out by Elcalion, the more recent thread "If you can stomach the Inheritance Cycle..." pertains pretty directly to this discussion, especially on the idea of rigidity. As you can see there, not everyone in the PPC shares the same opinions of badfic, and we aren't so 'rigid' that we'll spork a fic that doesn't truly, truly, truly deserve it just because of canon breaks, SPaG errors, clichés, OOCness, and other elements that could be charges should a fic actually be sporked. In fact, as is also exhibited in that particular thread, we often go by how something makes us feel as opposed to strict, 'rigid' analysis.
The PPC is fun, as many others have already said. It's not a real organization, and it's certainly not rigid- or if it is, it's not meant to be.

-- Len

Hey. I see where you're coming from, I think. If I'm understanding what you're saying, it's that you don't like that we snark at stories rather than just review them.

The thing is though... there really isn't a "PPC Organization". We're a community of writers who enjoy reading fanfiction and writing fanfiction, and just being fans in general.

Bad fanfiction doesn't NEED to be dealt with; we do what we do because we care about the canons, we enjoy good stories, and we just like having fun. By writing missions, we basically combine writing a story and writing a review of a fic while doing it in a way that makes people laugh.

You say you despise 'their' totally rigid view of canon. Who are you referring to? The PPC started in the early 2000s with two writers. Since then, there have been many many spinoffs, each with different writers behind them.

Yes, most of us consider the author of the work's word on their creation to be the final one. If it's up in the air, then we -or at least me, personally- take fanon and fan theories into consideration. Like, a character's motives, for example. If they aren't stated in canon, and it's just guessing on the fanon's part, then we take that into consideration.

Yes, people DO interpret stories differently. But we aren't telling people what to think. If that person thought that Snape was an abusive teacher, then fine. Good on them! But where we draw the line is when Snape stops acting in-character. In the books, Snape never physically attacked a student. If he's doing that in the fic, then we comment on it.

And yeah, we do need a better messaging board. I agree.

So, Polite Dissent, have our responses been what you thought they were going to be?

Finally, thanks for telling us what you think in a respectful manner like you have. To me, the PPC is about writing fun stories with friends and poking fun at bad fan fiction, while improving our own skills as writers.

I really shouldn't even comment on this because I haven't been active in this community for years now, but it seems kind of bizarre to take the PPC so seriously. I mean... it's an 'organization' devoted to getting a laugh out of bad fan fiction. At the end of the day it's fan fiction about fan fiction. It's fun, but not exactly earth-shattering.

Got a chuckle out of your suggestion to get a better message board. We were having that debate here 10 years ago, so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Hopefully you can continue to voice your polite dissent on this old shoddy one. ;)

I think that what you're missing, as Lenore said below, is that not every AU and crossover are bad. Take "Game Theory" for example. It's an AU - there's no doubting that - but it's such a well-written, engrossing AU that I doubt that any of the resident Nanoha fans (me, Sergio Turbo and firemagic, IIRC) would ever dare to mission it. Or, for example, "Faker of the Rings", which is a Fate/stay night x Lord of the Rings crossover. It's crack, and it exaggerates the characters quite a lot, but, again, I doubt anyone would spork it, because it's well-written and funny.
That said, kudos for being reasonable and listening to what Nesh had to say.

Having not written any missions myself, my feedback doesn't really hold a whole lot of weight experience-wise, but I can see why you'd think that PPC methods are a little caustic. I've thought it, too. The point of the snarky sporking missions, I believe, is simply to make elimination of badfic more entertaining than writing review after review that the author won't listen to nine times out of ten. And in fact I've seen PPCers leave long, detailed, and cheerful critical reviews on stories, before or after sporking. We do that too.

You have a point about canon. The rigidity doesn't really allow for things like AUs, but then again, the PPC wouldn't spork a well-written AU. I think that breaking canon as a charge is used more to show that a Mary Sue (or similar offender) is disproportionately warping the plot, which is often what makes a character a Sue. (Since that didn't make much sense right there, I wrote an article explaining that theory. It's on my blog.)

So I suppose what I'm saying here is that I can perfectly sympathize with you, and I'm glad that you openly criticized the PPC if you had an issue with it. I think it was brave, and I admire you for being able to say "I hate you." and then proceed to offer reprimand that was not a flame. But in general I think the reasoning on our side can be explained- if not by me, because I'm not the best at explaining these things.

Yes, the methods are a little harsh. Maybe too harsh. That I can agree on, to an extent.

-- Len :D

This is very strange. I did find what I thought was the fic that was sporked here on FF.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5176787/Thou-Shalt-Not-Suffer .

However, the paragraphs that were misinterpreted are missing, suggesting that it was either edited afterwards, or I am thinking of a different fic. I'll describe what I remember anyway:

There is a Christian who gets her letter to Hogwarts. Obviously she is conflicted over this with the titular quote. Anyway, the important bit is that after she gets her books, her dad comes in to her room, and asks her not to read such things, which she agrees to. Later at Platform 9 3/4, she displays knowledge of the Wizarding World - I think the barrier. Her dad asks her how she knows what with her supposedly not reading the books, and -this is important- she replies "Magic?", innocently. Key word there, innocently. The Agents went NUTS. They immediately and incorrectly assumed that she literally meant that magic reached out and put the knowledge into her head, screaming "MAGIC DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!". I on the other hand got a totally different message - she read the books anyway and lied, hence the fic specifically noting the adjective 'innocently'.

Anyway that's the fic I hold a grudge over, and it's why only now am I thinking of the PPC again. From what I recall, she went on to get a telling-off from McGonagall on diversity (pointing out that the Patil twins follow Hinduism, for example),and after agreeing that that was the best bit the agents tossed the protagonist into a volcano.

This wasn't some random, ill-spelt-and-grammared flame, and wasn't a passing troll. It was someone who took the time to write up a well thought out message to the lot of us. I have tremendous respect for that.

As for the community...stick around, eh? Visit the Board from time to time, come on the IRC and say hi. We're fairly personable, and we hardly ever bite, we swear.

OK, so I'm new (relatively) and I may not speak for anyone else with what I'm going to say but this is how I feel.

My main problem with your post (if problem is the right word) is your fourth paragraph (the one starting with "I despise their totally rigid view of canon") As a RPer and a writer I use AU's and OC's on a daily basis, yet my stories haven't appeared on the PPC, nor have several of my favorite stories that are severely AU and breach Canon in way too many places to take count. Why? Because there are pieces of good fanfiction on the internet, stories that you can read and enjoy, stories that have a clear well defined plot, use Canon as enough of a basis to keep people happy and have decent SPaG. To be honest the majority of fanfiction breaches away from canon at some point or another, for whatever reason. You can't blame a fanfic for not complying with a canon Seventh Year and Epilogue for Harry Potter if it was written before the book came out can you? Nor can you really blame a writer if they want to explore a specific What If? question that could change all of Canon.

I personally think that as the Authors have finished each book they've let us the readers play around with Canon as we want. But with this and posting your stories on the internet comes the responsibility to make sure that the stories are good enough for the internet, to be read as a whole. If it's good then that's fine, however it's only if it's quality is subpar that means the PPC get involved. I think you've forgotten that, that the PPC does not restrict fanfictions from moving off of Canon in anyway, what it does is merely raises awareness of the bad fanfiction of the internet, and along with the OFU's gives those who have written the bad fanfics every chance to redeem themselves and tidy it up. OK so not everyone agrees and not everything will always work out, that's the way of life.
The other thing you've got to remember is that the PPC Missions aren't deadly serious they're meant to be humourous parodies of the fanfiction, no matter how bad the fanfic is, take it with a pinch of salt and laugh if it's your sort of thing or turn away if it isn't.

I think I've rambled on enough and possibly gone slightly off topic but anyway.
Two additional points.
1) Looked for 'Shalt Not Suffer' on the wiki, couldn't find a fanfic with that name, but there was a Mission title with those words in it, it was for a fic named 'A Christian At Hogwarts' didn't read the mission, but is that the one you were meaning?
2)I've seen a lot worse discussion boards than this. Besides it does what it needs to do. I think the quote is "If it ain't broke don't fix it" which funnily enough pretty much sums up my base point (and makes the previous two paragraphs look silly in hindsight). The PPC isn't broken, people may not like it, but you're unlikely to find anything in the world that everyone likes. What matters is that something continues doing the job that the PPC is doing, so why change it?

As I said at the top, this is my opinion and whilst it may not be shared by anyone else it doesn't matter to me, because as has been repeated, everyone has their own opinion. If I do turn out to be a loner amongst Boarders then so be it, and if people want me off of here ASAP then fair enough.
Final point before I shut up (and everyone starts celebrating) I don't mean to offend anyone with my above post, if I have I'm sorry and if alerted I won't do it again.
Storme Hawk

(Wow, this reply took a while to write. If anybody else has said this, don't mind me.)

Um... Yeah, I think you'll forgive us if we don't take your assertion that this is "polite dissent" at your word, sir. Even if you meant the organization rather than the people in the PPC, it's still rude as hell to open an argument with "I hate you".

Also, I'm pretty sure that "you dun goofed" is only used in an ironically back-talking sense that is in no way meant to be polite.

Oh, and that "expect the typical whiny response in 3, 2, 1"? Also very rude, and almost kind of elitist in a way.

Oh, and the "message board" comment? Totally uncalled for. (By the way, we have had many debates about moving it. Many, many, MANY debates, some of which have caused blood to be shed and tears to be cried. Honestly, I don't care either way, as it's actually not a horrible message board.)

Yeah, you come in here saying you're "polite dissent" and then you go on to insult certain facets of the organization in a passive-aggresive manner. That's honestly not polite at all.

Just saying.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the argument you're postulating here, so we'll leave your wording choice at the door. So let's go down your points, shall we?

"I hate their methods, of making sarky comments rather than sitting down to review a work. (...just being able to riff on something doesn't make it bad)."

Roger Ebert would oftentimes review a bad movie by dealing snark at its general direction. You make the point of "snark is independent from criticism", which is a valid point.

However, what you seem to miss in your point is an important distinction about quality: even when the work as a whole is good, there are sometimes still things about it that aren't really that great. You're arguing that making snarky comments about a work that is of overall high quality is the same as making snarky comments about a work that is of overall low quality.

To that end, let me ask you this: when some people make snark at something that's good, why is it that they generally go after the bits of the whole piece that don't work? Is making fun of the flaws of a good work fundamentally different from making fun of the flaws of a bad work? It's exactly your point, I know, but that's just the problem: when you snark at the flaws of a fundamentally bad work, there's much more to work with than there would be in something of higher quality.

I wonder what your opinion of stuff like the Nostalgia Critic and the Angry Video Game Nerd is. By the argument you present here, I get the feeling you don't like anything from those kinds of people.

"I despise their totally rigid view of canon, which refuses to consider any opinion other than the author's to be of any worth."

This whole paragraph ignores one simple issue: while it is true that art does "grow up and talk back to you", there is a limit to which you can stretch that quote. That point comes when the author produces information that points to a certain interpretation of anything relating to that canon. Hell, you even acknowledge this point when you say "if you want your audience to believe something about your story, put it in the story".

The problem is that most authors of bad fanfiction choose to ignore when an author puts something into their story to steer an interpretation of a part of canon, whether it be conscious or not. That is the kind of interpretation we normally go after here at the PPC. Is it possible to come up with a fanfic that has good alternate interpretations of things found in the canon? Of course, and I have yet to see a fic that was sporked here in the negative because it just violated the canon. (Hell, we've even had a mission that highlighted goodfic that involves an AU (and also MPreg) when the mission writers initially thought they found badfic. See here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K33i4NbxNThKEdfmacAA8pY04qPmENbAT0lBLaJoSXs/edit ) But that doesn't always happen with fanfiction, and it almost never happens in bad fanfiction.

Hence, our position of sticking mainly to what the author intended with that. Oftentimes, the fic authors will spend so little time justifying in-story decisions that contradict information the original author explicitly spelled out in the canon (that is, if they don't completely disrespect it entirely) that it will get to the point where the fic and the canon from which the fic derives inspiration don't seem to fit within the same universe. And when that happens, it's more like the kid that murders the parents rather than the kid who talks back to the parents.

"I don't know how long ago this was written without anyone catching it, but in a spork of a HP fic called I believe 'Shalt Not Suffer' (I couldn't find it on FF, so the story may have been taken down, and there were too damn many HP sporkings for me to find it on your end), the writers totally misunderstood the fic and I believe persecuted it unfairly. I know that people make mistakes, but that sporking was written years ago and still stands uncorrected."

For that spork... I take it you're referring to this Foxglove and Laburnum mission, of which the full title is "Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Sue To Live": http://www.keldale.f9.co.uk/tabularasa/mission2.htm (The fic being sporked is actually still up on FF.net, by the way: you can find it here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1485826/1/The-Christian-at-Hogwarts The reason you couldn't find it is probably because it's hard to find Harry Potter fics that were published in 2003, so I won't dock you for that.) If this isn't actually the mission that you're referring to, you can skip this next part as it only applies to that. So to that end... cue the scene change things I use in my missions!

----**----

If you do say that the mission missed the point of the story, I can see why you might say that: the mission does show a scene later in the fic that actually isn't that bad. In fact, it involves something that could've been interesting to explore: the identity crisis a Christian might undergo if sent to Hogwarts. I will admit, that is a very interesting concept to explore, and it could've made for a great fanfic if handled right.

I say, "if handled right". Unfortunately, the fic bungled the execution in a few critical ways. The mission mentions that the scene that brings up those ideas doesn't really make sense with anything that came before it. If McGonagall says that the students that fill the halls of Hogwarts are Christians, why did the Sorting Hat flip out about that when it was put on the head of the main Sue? If there are in fact other Christians in Hogwarts that the Sorting Hat would've sorted by the time Ariana comes around, why did it single her out? If Ariana was having an identity crisis with herself, why would the Sorting Hat say that she had "a thirst to impress"? From what we read of the rest of the fic, there was inadequate and/or no actual build-up to that scene, not to mention that the scene itself goes against the implied logic that the story runs on. So that's a sign of bad storytelling in and of itself.

And that doesn't mention the other canon violations that occur that are explicitly spelled-out facts from JK Rowling.
Like, you know, Potterverse spells suddenly being incantable in German (they're only incanted in Latin). Or some girl from Portugal being able to go to a school in England, when it has been established by the canon that there are schools in other parts of the world and that there thus might be a school she could go to closer to home. And having a judgmental Gryffindor student. And having Ariana feel the location of Platform Nine and Three Quarters. And having Hagrid freak out about Muggle parents when he was fine with Hermoine's.

And let's not forget the inconsistencies within the story, such as Ariana suddenly becoming a pureblooded witch when she was formerly Muggle-born earlier in the story. And then there were all the grammatical errors involved.

So, to reiterate, the idea wasn't bad itself. It was just a badly-told story that did not meet up to the author's admittedly admirable intent.

----**----

Of course, if this isn't the mission or the fic you're referring to, feel free to disregard the above two paragraphs.

The PPC isn't about attacking stories that don't follow the canon with funny comments: it's about pointing out the flows in badly-told fanfiction. And I think that, at least on some level, you have missed the point of the PPC.

I personally am here for the setting that is being used itself and the concepts behind it, which I find have an unusual appeal to them.

My opinion is no more valid than anyone else's except when it comes to my own characters and other things I create myself, and I admit this. Trust me when I say that I don't see myself as any higher or better than any other writer out there, because I've seen things in both perspectives.

I'm not sure what you're hoping to achieve here, though. Do you want to have a conversation, or did you just want us to know some people don't like us, or are you actively seeking that "totally predictable response" you mentioned? I'm confused.

I applaud you for being coherent in your dissent and not insulting us as people, though. I don't hate you or any of the authors whose writing I've PPCed, either, just for the record.

~Neshomeh

In more formal words, I'm definitely interested in beta-ing, if you could still use another one. dawnfire360@gmail.com, although you may already have that.

~DF

Unfortunately, I am not going to have internet access for the next week, due to various circumstances. If you still need/want a beta after that, I believe you already have my email (?), and I would be happy to assist.

It's the Summer, I've got Loads of Free Time! SeraphWeasel@gmail.com.

I'll Beta fur you, if you want.

Yes, I too have felt the urge to create a simply enormous villain for Redwall.

My final decision usually settled somewhere around 'Siberian Tiger,' but I can't say I ever wrote the fic, as I decided that Siberian Tigers were WAY out there and probably shouldn't be brought into Redwall.

Especially since my earlier ideas involved using *elephants* to knock down Redwalls' red walls.

Perhaps. However, I must first find what species of bear were formerly native to the British isles. Scotland for instance, had bears until they were hunted to extinction.

Seeing as how I've been intending to attempt a Redwall FanFic fur quite some time now, I'll Attempt Your Challenge.

No Guarantees of Course, I am Quite Easily Distracted, But I'll Do My Best. Love Redwall!

I Like the "Primal Force of Destruction" idea, quite brilliant. Unless I have a better idea, I'll run with that.

...but I'm partial to Figment.com. I still post on the Pit as well, but individual fics tend to drown in there.

Every site I've ever been on, with very, very occasional exceptions (such as this one), require an email to have an account, and a registered account in order to post content. If you're just trying to avoid putting your own email address up, I recommend getting a Gmail account for the purpose of "Signing Up For Things." It's what I did, a while back.

That said, my favorite site for posting and reading is AO3, but the Pit of Voles remains popular with a lot of folks.