I think I can sit back and just view the Kitten then it sucks me back in
I voted. Anyone who has seen my opinions in other threads over the years that look to reform or ignore FAQ wouldn't need telling what I voted.
One thing I do agree with is that the polls 'closed' a little early. The position could still have been reversed though it was unlikely. However the fact that Xita had seen enough to make a decision was actually as much as was required. I've written this as an open topic though rather than simply reflecting my thanks at the decision. As I would've done prior to the decision.
The arguments have gone back and forth but there is one that stands out to me. This is the Kitten. If you're a fan of the show after SR. Cool. If you love the nameless-one and want to sing his praises. Cool. If you want Tara and Xander humping while Willow cheers them on and looks up new positions on the net... well, not cool but if you can write it well then good for you. But not here. That's the point.
This is the Kitten and - to be honest - I care less about the totality of the Kitten than I do about Pens because Pens was the core of my creativity, emotional investment and sense of self-worth for a VERY long time.
If you want to write anything at all then good for you, really. I will applaud and support anyone's urge to create as it's given me so much and - as a writer - you have to explore what you feel and not let yourself be fettered. But where you put it matters. Just because you write it does not mean you get to put it where you like. This is the Kitten and we're about T&W. Together. That's it. It's simple really.
Being unmoderated for a long time was entirely understandable - it's a miracle that we're well moderated again now - but it meant that so many people who didn't go through the 'bad old days' never had that prompt about what this place was. Not everyone (or even most) of those who were advocating a change are 'new' but my point here is actually that the period of little moderation proved what happens.
A lot slipped through on various boards and people just didn't understand why people were mad about it. And fiction is the hardest thing to mod. It has to be. It's big, it's irregular and it's so open to interpretation. In fairness to moderators I would never expect them to be able to do the job on a fiction board that is still as active as this one. Authors have to take responsibility and that means that they have to have some clarity and not grey areas. I believe the current FAQ has clarity and for the record it pre-dates anything about JFK or whoever. It wasn't founded in bitterness and hurt, it was founded in the fact that if you come here you do so for T&W. Not for T&W&O or whatever floats your boat.
And dare I ask what would happen if we changed FAQ and then we lost our mods again? Right now we can still police ourselves with comments if we need to. With a grey area FAQ and the old internet 'but I have freedom of speech' argument that ends up in every internet forum despite the fact that someone has to pay for it (Xita) then how long till we have crossovers where Harry and Willow are playing hide the wand? Sorry. No. And make no mistake that is what would become. There would be some good stories posted that weren't what many of us wanted to see, but many more would simply be excuses to have them have sex with other characters/fandoms or whatever because that's just how things work.
To my mind the only way to preserve what this board is based around is to keep the intent of FAQ intact.
Now, since my fic was mentioned I will reply to that to illustrate the point:
vampyregurl73 wrote:
I think as long as the principal rule of W/T being together, alive ( I can think of The Sidestep Chronicles where Willow is Vamp Willow for the majority of the first half, so she is technically dead) and in a relationship is honored, extraneous characters, seasons, etc. should be allowed for dramatic license.
(Edited to add: In NO way am I having a dig at vampyregurl73 using that quote. I'm only picking it up to show how the system can/did work bearing those very valid concerns in mind)
And this is a very good example. I agonised about this. It was early in the process but I had what I knew was a very good story I was working on (the story was good, not necessarily the writing) and I knew that it was pushing boundaries of FAQ. I never remained entirely happy the VW/T thing even though they were wonderful characters.
I clarified with Xita what should and should not happen. What was allowed and what wasn't. I told her what would broadly happen and she accepted it. To be specific Xita felt that VW was still Willow... I actually argued against my own story. This is why in Sidestep - though it's implied - VW/T NEVER have graphically shown sex. Ever. That might surprise those who think you may have read it, but that's the fact. I refused to go there even though many readers wanted to see it and other writers had definitely gone there with varying degrees of success/creepiness. And it was ALWAYS based around the fact that VW would become Willow once again. That VW was the only Willow that Tara had any access to and that there was no one else. That it was a story about the journey for them.
I was knocked back by Xita on another matter. I had a character who was obsessed with Tara and - unasked for - would've kissed her. That was disallowed. It hurt the scene in terms of how any writer would've ideally wanted to present it, but this is Pens and I respected that and made the change.
I personally disagreed with the allowing of post SR stories here but I respect the decision to allow them as stories that people who were hurt needed to write so they could bring Tara back. I could understand a therapeutic value then. I am probably less comfortable now with the dramatic reasons than I was then (since the therapy is less pressing now)... but I respect it and I understand there are some wonderful fics there.
Ironically the idea that 'we allow one thing so we should allow another' is exactly the reason we shouldn't because inevitably the line will creep or force another, later change of FAQ back. I don't see why.
Point 1 - you can always ask a moderator.
Point 2 - this is still Xita's house.
Point 3 - this is Pens and that means something. I think it means a lot that so many people have strong feelings after so long.
Once again I will encourage anyone - everyone - to write. Start with W/T if you love them - it worked for me I am writing novels now and looking to publication one day in the not too distant future. Pens gave me that. T/W gave me that. Take your writing where you need to. But don't expect to post anything on Pens simply because it has T/W in. Just what it's intended for.
Writers here have proven for nearly a
decade that you don't need to involve other people or situations to produce wonderful stories. So the artistic argument holds about as much water for me as if somene said it was their right to express themselves that way (and no one did, I know which still surprises me given how often I see it elsewhere.)
But here it is, the internet is a scary/wonderful thing. You can make your own place to write, promote yourself in Google or find someone else who already did so and join that community. It doesn't need to be here.
Leave this one to be what it was intended to be. About the girls. Together.
And as other places faded away, what it came to be. Unique.
Katharyn