I had fully intended on sitting out this whole debate thread (for a while I thought I was getting emails from democraticunderground.com ::Mike hides in corner::) but since Tony was brought up (I'm not having a go at you Kimber) I thought I had better say my peace and go back to finishing Tony's work.
Both me and Tony shared a lot of things in common. We both are (or were in Tony's case) heterosexual right wing conservative Aussie naval officers and easily the most right wing and conservative members of BWW (on a number of issues we're even to the right of Bush).
So what the hell are people like me and Tony doing on this list?
We also shared a love for great Buffy fanfic, in this case, a love for stories where Buffy loves Willow (and vice versa) and they share a healthy and beautiful relationship. If you're on this list then chances are that we've at least got this same love love in common. If we spoke more about other things then we might discover we have other things in common too (or maybe not, but that's OK).
Tony came here to this list as something of an outcast seeking refuge. He found that as a Scooby shipper (that is shipping B/W, B/X, W/X, and B/W/X) he wasn't all that welcome on some of the B/X and W/X lists. He stumbled on this list and found himself something of an unexpected home. He wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms by everybody on the list (I saw a couple of emails he got back then and some of them were down right ugly) but he was generally tolerated (maybe ignored at worst) and occasionally liked (and even loved every now and then). But here he found himself something that he couldn't find in no other on-line group at the time.
A home.
He read all the wonderful stories from all the talented writers on this list and wrote his own stories. He ranted about the stupidity of Joss and the evil of Marti Noxon. He made fun of Riley and wished Buffy would dump his cardboard cutout lame tin soldier ass and find someone else (like Willow and/or Xander). He then really started missing Riley when Spuffy started (let's face it, Captain Cardboard was a million times better that Spike). He made friends here and found the courage to take his fics to other groups, some of which accepted him too.
But BWW was always home to Tony.
When Tony got sick he got me involved in Buffy fanfic writing. He passed on a love for the show and for Scooby shipping. I'm lucky enough to have benefited from his trailblazing because I can claim two homes (BWW and the XanderZone).
Me, I must admit to being annoyed at politics being dragged in the list (same thing happened over at the XanderZone and I'm just as annoyed). If I wanted to battle the rabid right or the loony left, there's no shortage of places on the Internet I can (and often do) go. But if I want to read good B/W fanfic there's really only one place I can do it.
Here.
Home is supposed to be a place where you feel welcomed.
To be honest, I don't know exactly what Tony's reaction to what's been said on the list in the last couple of days, but I suspect he would have muttered "Where's the god-damned fanfic?"
Mike McD
(proud Right Wing Death Beast and supporter of Gay and Lesbian rights)
Kimber <kimbertvs@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
To correct myself, after recieving an email from Dan privately and looking into the archives myself - I've discovered that Tony McD was a right wing conservative and an aussie (msg# 27530). My apologies for the mistaken assumption on my part.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfic.
~~Kimber