Re: OT: (A Rant) Drain Brameged Inc. Bites the Hand That Feeds It

["Jayiin Mistaya" <masterofwords@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In the spirit of good fun and clean discussion, I'll let it slide that
no one responded to my last response.  I do apologize for it posting
twice, though.  It's what I get for dealing with windows ME.

There's been a lot said on this condemning what Mad Hamlet did, and a
lot of comments on why.  

No one's hit the mark, but you've all proven him right, and justified
the 'why'.

Mad Hamlet is someone who thrives on challenge and challenging others;
what I see here is a lot of people rising to a challenge.

So far, we have a lurker who posted an impassioned, honest statement.
Admittedly, Sixfeetoo, you judged Hamlet wrong.  He doesn't care if
you've read or liked his stuff.  If he did, you'd know it.  He cares
about exactly what you said:

"But the quality of the fiction is
no longer here. IN MY OPINION, the best b/w writers are gone. They no
longer post or write. With the exception of a few writers, everyone
writing now is mediocre. I still read it, but feel nothing for most of
it. I honestly believe this group is dying because of it and that is
what is scaring Mad Hamlet enough to go through this all over again."

And again, you hit it:

"OK, here is how it also works, in my opinion. Someone starts a
story... a great story... you tell them 'please write more'. 6 months
later, no update... email again 'loved the story please write more'. 2
years later, nothing. Where is my incentive to keep going? There are
so many stories that are not completed and frankly I'm tired of
starting stories only to find they are not finished and probably never
will be finished. So I will not read a 'part 1' of anything until I
see that there are more regular updates. Why invest myself in
something that will never find a conclusion? So all of this goes both
ways. I bet if someone wrote a story beginning to end and then posted
it would receive much much feedback."

He made you angry.  He made you angry enough to sit down at your
keyboard and pound out that response.  He made Carol angry, and now we
know she blames him for her no longer writing -- which has created a
sub-theme discussing why people write, or what causes them to want to
write or not want to write.  

All the responses and answers are valid -- but Hamlet generated
discussion, said something, did something to make you care enough to
write, to think and to take what you are doing on this list seriously.
There has been discussion on what kind of C&C and feedback is good
and what is bad and why.

We've learned a lot about people as writers; and about how they feel
about the list and the fandom.  

So yeah, be enraged at Hamlet.  Hate his bloody guts.  And keep
telling everyone why he's wrong, why he doesn't know what he's talking
about.

I'd like to remind everyone of a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one
may demean you without your permission."

So I submit this for your consideration: If you feel threatened by
what Hamlet said, then ask yourself why.  If you felt guilty, ask
yourself why.

If you got mad, then go with it.  

But if you want to quit writing when someone like Mad Hamlet
challenges you with a C&C or challenges you with a rant, then how
badly did you want to write in the first place?

He never says he's always right; just that he always says what he
thinks.  I can respect that, a lot more than someone who won't bother
to tell me if they thought what I wrote sucks.

Carol, I hope you pick your pen back up.  Deciding to let a
self-proclaimed anti-social loudmouth scare you off of your chosen
creative passion just gives the self-proclaimed anti-social loudmouth
power.  

Sixfeetoo -- if people are scared of Mad Hamlet, then let them be
scared.  You aren't.  You posted -- and you are a lurker.  But you
aren't the problem, because you do care, and you do respond privately
to writers; you are involved, reading and thinking.

My hat is off to you.

But people weren't posting before there was a reason to be scared of
Mad Hamlet -- unless he was always just that scary, in which case, I
missed the memo RE: MAD HAMLET IS A LIST TERRORIST AND WILL ANALLY
PLUNDER YOUR CREATIVE SPARK.  

So come on.  Keep getting mad.  Keep telling him why you're mad.  Keep
blaming him.

I'm sure he'd love for this to be his fault.

~alan the mad dragon

PS: Thanks to Mad-Hamlet for C&C'ing this.









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