Re: A New Buffy/Willow Site!! Please read!

["Lindsay Ryan" <aspiringsomething@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, wow. I really didn't expect people to be this upset about it.  
I mean, thought I might get *some* friction but I never expected an 
all-out war.  

It seems I need to do some explaining and to respond to some of the 
messages that have been sent my way.

First things first, there are obviously some people who are very hurt 
by the formation of this new group. That is not now, and has never 
been my intention, to hurt anyone. I did not form the group out of 
spite, or as a rebellion against the BWW and BLW groups. I formed it 
because I personally, would like to see a group with only Buffy and 
Willow on it. I was not about to lead a vote or whatever on B/W's 
behalf to get everyone to post only those stories, because obviously, 
everyone here is quite happy with being allowed to post stories with 
other pairings. And that is fine. All I wanted to do was to create 
a list that centered around only Buffy and Willow. And I was hoping 
that the fans of this couple wouldn't really mind if another group 
came out of this, seeing as that they'd probably wanna get as much of 
the two them as possible. It's just like belonging to another list 
and I really didn't see anything wrong with that.

I am not out to pit either group against the other. That's the last 
thing I wanna do. You need to know that my intentions were only good 
ones, and that I did not, in any way, seek to divide the fandom, or 
take away any of your visitors. I specifically stated that in the 
message I sent to all of you.

Here is a personalized list of responses to you guys, and if you 
wrote something and didn't get a specific response, it's because I 
believe that the concerns you addressed had already been stated in my 
response to other people. So please, everyone who is 
concerned/upset/involved etc., please read this:


Kimber,

I have not set out to insult you or make you think that this group 
isn't good enough for whatever reason. I think BWW and BLW are 
wonderful and you've done a great job with them. I also love your 
fics and I've told you that before. My intentions were, by no means, 
malicious  nor did I mean to "backstab" you by creating this list.  
I just felt like these groups could co-exist with one another and 
that we could all come and get what we needed when we visited either 
group. Posting fics with other pairings on your list is completely 
up to you and your members, and I did not feel it was my place to 
lead some kind of revolution to have people only wanna post B/W 
stories. Believe me, I've put a good amount of thought into this. I 
just thought that if I made another group, I wouldn't have people 
pitted against each other, and that anyone who wanted to come to the 
new group, could do so without any fighting. Obviously, I was wrong, 
and now everyone seems to be mad at me for some inexplicable reason.  
Well, not really inexplicable, but because my intentions were only 
good in nature, it's a little bit hard to take.

Just know that I have the utmost respect for you and your list, and I 
do not want anyone to "choose" my group over yours or whatever. I am 
not trying to take your members or anything.. I don't even see how my 
group would even come close to yours  and that's probably why I've 
been so shocked by this whole thing. I absolutely do not/did not 
expect everyone to just trapse over to my group and forget that you 
guys ever existed.  

Do you wanna know why I posted this in the first place? I want 
EVERYONE to know this:

I advertised this new group here because this is where I knew most of 
the Buffy and Willow fans were.

That's all. It wasn't about dividing people or taking away your 
members at all, and like I said, I stated that before. It's just 
that this is the place where I knew I could reach the most 
Buffy/Willow fans, if they were at all interested. That's it.

My sincerist apologies if I have insulted you in any way, I certainly 
did not mean for that to happen. I also hope that this hasn't 
severed any ties with you or either group, as I would be extremely 
saddened by that, much less regretful.




MissLurker

This. Is. Crap. And an insult to Rod and Kimber.

:(

anyone else agree?



Well, I am sorry you feel that way.





Not really. I don't see why Rod and Kimber should have the monopoly 
on Buffy/Willow shipper lists. I didn't see this as a declaration of 
war against our beloved list parents, but simply a continuation of 
the function of the current lists.

As for the recently established issues regarding whether the list 
should be exclusively Buffy/Willow fiction, I rather enjoy the 
diversity. Show news, humor, other shipper stories, I don't see the 
problem. 

So let's bury the hatchet here, people. There's no reason that any 
new Buffy/Willow sites can't coexist with those that have been 
established.


I appreciate your message Kirayoshi, thank you. That is *exactly* 
why I created this list.





Hmmm.... ya know, I'm wondering why you actually created this list.
I've seen my fair share of creations and deaths of lists, some I 
found the idea itself good, but in the end, most just didn't get 
enough posts, and ended somewhere lost. I do hope you don't have to 
bear that fate yourself, but I fear it won't be much different with 
this list.

You see, I've been a member here for a good 2 1/2 years now, joined 
shortly after it was created, around february 1999 I think. Since 
then, I've seen authors come and go, some stayed, others created 
amazing fics, but over the course of the past years, there haven't 
been many regulars that posted fic,a dozen or two maybe, with the 
respective feedback to the lists. I have, and I'm proud of that, 
saved up at least 80-90% of the mails from these two lists, with 
small breakdowns here and there.

But, and this is just my own experience, there haven't been as many 
pure 'on topic' posts as one might expect. This wasn't a bad thing 
overall, sure there have been messages that were *so* off topic, that 
Kim stepped up and told them to cease the thread, but in the end, it 
were OT posts that kept the lists alive in times where fic was scarce 
and true Buffy loves and wants Willow moments were even scarcer. If 
you look at the archive of the lists, these past weeks haven't really 
had the spur of posts I know from other lists, where I sometimes get 
100 and more messages per day. And some of those posts were OT.

In my humble opinion, your idea is good, but with there already being 
the BuffylovesWillow and BuffywantsWillow lists, and the already 
small amount of hardcore B/W fanatics, who don't want anything but 
Buffy and Willow in the topic of their mails, you're going to have 
quite some problems keeping theactivity of the list up for long, if 
even at all.

Now don't get me wrong, I fully count myself as a fanatical 
Buffy/Willow shipper, but that doesn't say that I don't enjoy other 
coupling either, especially if they come from persons like Pat Kelly, 
who 'introduced' me to this ship with one of his stories being the 
one I read first, but having a list that already has a 'big brother', 
so to speak, it's going to be very hard to maintain such a list.

In the end, what I'm saying is, there may be a lot of off topic posts 
on our lists, but it are these posts that make much of the life in 
here. Without them, we'd have a lot less members, a lot less posts, 
and would likely have ended like the numerous other near dead lists 
by now, with a post every few weeks, and maybe an answer or two. 
Trust me, I've seen such things, they *do* exist ;-)

Regards and good luck

Quin
Kirayoshi


Thank you for your input Quin. I am aware of the failure rate that 
this, or any other group for that matter, may have. I just wanted to 
try this idea and see if works. If it doesn't, oh well I tried, 
right? I am going to do the best I can to keep the list going and to 
keep the members happy. And that's all I can really do.


Again, I am sorry if have offended anyone or made you feel like I was 
insulting these groups. I certainly was not, and that would be the 
last thing I would wanna do. I love these groups. I hope that we 
can all be at peace with one another because I really am not out to 
start an argument or to divide people in any way. So, if you want to 
join my group, great& I'd love to have you. If not, that's okay too 
and no hard feelings. Many apologies to all those who have been hurt 
or insulted by all this.  

Best wishes,

Lindsay Ryan