I have been lurking here since the beginning and reading fanfic on the archive for some time now. As I read the stories posted to this site, I wanted to know something: why aren't funny stories posted to this site? There are a lot of funny stories in the archive but I don't see any here. Don't those authors write any more?

Angst is okay but too much of it gets boring and I'm bored. Can I expect to see any funny stories, and I mean laugh-out-loud stories, from this site or should I look elsewhere?

I'm coming out of lurkdom to post this so I'll crawl back into my hole now.

Some of the funny stories are actually written as challenges, and are posted to the Challenges folder. However, there are a few really funny stories posted to the regular Fanfic folder as well, like the battle between Tank and Kaethel.

And not to mention Paul's (Hatman) *hilarious* and brilliantly funny stories!! "Zombies Ate My Homework", for instance. Those are just a blast!

Pelican

Well, trends wax and wane, authors come and go, and in years past *all* the stories were shorter.

A few years ago, I wrote a drama that came out to 76k and couldn't believe how long it was but my most recent story was just shy of 200k. But I've also got two attempts at short comedy stuff this year...

Congratulations on coming out of lurkerdom

PJ
(Pam Jernigan on the archive, if you're curious)

Are you sure you've been reading all the stories here? <g>

Seriously, though, I've thought that we've had a bunch of great comedies posted in the last several months. Do you read the challenge folder, by any chance? There have been some real gems there. And I know there have been comedies posted to the MB that haven't made it to the Archive yet -- as I found that out last night when I started to organize my Kerth nominations and found that some of my comedy noms couldn't be found on the Archive at all, darn it!

Last year we had some fantastic comedies posted, too ... I know that I thought last year's Comedy category on the Kerth ballot was incredibly tough. That was before this board came into existance, but I had thought that most of those stories had been posted to Zoomway's message board.

But certainly the Archive is a great place to get them all. Luckily, most stories -- comedies or otherwise -- end up there.

Well, it's certainly possible that your favorite comedy authors aren't writing anymore ... have you tried emailing them to ask them? If they haven't written a story in years, then they likely have dropped out of the fandom but who knows, maybe you could pursuade them to come back and write for us all to enjoy.

But I do have to point out that if those authors aren't writing anymore, it's not just these boards that aren't going to see their work posted ... they aren't going to send to the Archive, either.

Oh, but if you do look elsewhere and find there's a place where a bunch of L&C fans have been posting laugh-out-loud stories that aren't being posted here or to the Archive, please be sure to come back and fill us in! I know there are lots of fans who would love to read their work and maybe even pursuade them to Archive it!

Kathy

What?! Okay, fess up, who are you and why aren't your stories in my mailbox? <g> Don't make me send out the hounds...

Oh, and welcome, Lurkerbee!

LabRat (slightly dizzy having just recovered her missing internet connection...)

I’m coming out of lurkdom one last time to post this.

I appreciate all the comments to my previous post and thank you for your comments.

I had already read Paul-Gabriel Weiner’s story and thought it was quite good. He’s someone whose stories I like. I’m sorry to say that I find Wendy and Tank’s stories only mildly amusing. They don’t make me laugh and don’t fill my desire for well-written comedies. The challenges are okay, but I found only one gem among a bunch of rocks. It's not enough to sustain my interest.

I took KathyB’s advice and contacted the writers that I liked. They told me that they still loved L & C and loved writing fan fiction but wouldn’t write any L & C fan fiction anymore. One writer told me flat-out that she would never, ever write for this board. They all said the same thing, that they felt “driven off” by others who are now here but used to be on another site. They told me that they are still writing but now write for other fan fiction sites where they “feel welcome” and “there’s no backstabbing and popularity contests to deal with.”

So I’m going to follow the writers that I like. When I want angst, I’ll come here since this seems to be the #1 spot for that. I’ll still lurk here but not post any more.

I know this isn't the feel-good happy comment you wanted to hear but I thought I'd tell you why you lost good writers. And it's a shame, too, because you lost a reader.

It's nice that you feel free to post your views, 'lurkerbee'. It's just a shame that you don't have the courage to post your real name when you decide to insult people like this.

No-one has to like my stories, or anyone's stories, so it doesn't trouble me in the least that you say so; however, if it was another author I would be very unhappy that you had chosen to be publicly unkind to them. Whatever about me, I don't think my writing partner deserves that kind of treatment.

Since you don't want to post here any more, I would be grateful if you could show me - in private email if you prefer - where you have seen 'popularity contests' and 'backstabbing' on these boards. I've been here since these boards opened and have seen neither, which made a very refreshing change from the other site you mention. I'm also not aware of any writers who have posted here in the past but ceased to do so - again, would be interested in hearing any evidence of this. On the other hand, many writers here have said that they will never again post on the other site you refer to. But then, personal choice is a good thing. No-one has to do anything they don't want to.

Have fun wherever else you play. We are very happy with the wide variety of fanfic available here; if your tastes are accommodated more suitably elsewhere, then good luck to you. If you do decide to post here, we might suggest, in the interests of the hundreds of members of these boards who aren't interested in attempts to start a fight, that you remember some of the rules of basic politeness.

Thank you.


Wendy

Hi All,

It seems to me that 'lurkerbee' posts are aimed to provoke an argument.

Through some IP tracing and other checking, we are confident that we know who the poster 'lurkerbee' is. Any other attempts to cause trouble by registering under fake nicks (in other words, ‘trolling’) will be treated in the same way as the trouble-making fanboys were.

Lurkerbee has been set to no post status.

Any questions feel free to email me.

[Edit... for those who aren't aware, back in 2001, there was a split in the fandom. After "lurkerbee's" second post, IP traces showed that "lurkerbee" is actually Annie Riley, who is known to have a grudge against some of the authors here. There are strong feelings on both sides. In order to prevent a new eruption of an old flame war, we shut the whole thing down. --PJ]