As for .gz, I run Linux, so I’m using either Firefox or Konqueror. (Sort of an uncle to Apple’s Safari) I hadn’t considered that some people might use browsers which don’t just transparently decompress RAAC-archived fics.

Also, just in case you hadn’t considered it, 7-zip provides a nice free alternative to paying for WinRAR, finding a crack, or tolerating the nag screen. (I follow a “usage constitutes endorsement” policy and refuse to endorse non-free software)

My guess is that my ratings are more linear (displaying a typical normal distribution) while yours seem to follow a curve which compresses more of the poor stuff into the lower numbers… or you’re just more selective than I am.

When I rate, here are the most common meanings of the ratings:
1 - Unreadable… literally.
2 - Why did you write a (crappy) original fic but use the names of popular characters?
3 - Neither bad nor good
4 - Good, but not really memorable
5 - Excellent. I’ll probably end up re-reading it eventually.

I then use half-points to resolve cases where I just can’t decide between two integer ratings. “The Power The Dark Lord Knows Of” could never be worth less than 4.0 by my system. (Partly because even if implementation brings it down, concept and ideas pull it back up again)

Solid 3 of 5.

Now for redheads…

Ahh, the good old .gz format. This is truly one of the old fics. I know IE can be cajoled into opening .gz files but if I can’t be bothered so it’s Winrar and Notepad for me.

‘reads’

Meh. I’ve read it before and even 8 years is not enough to make it fresh to me. I recall not being overtly fond of this fic. I had just read through Girl Days and perhaps a bit overloaded on Kenko style fics. His writing is good, though, very good. Almost up there with the best Ranma fics of today.

Certainly worth checking out.

While I am an unaccomplished programmer, I am able to make approximations of mockups in order to explain better my ideas.

If you’d like to email me at chainedfei at the illustrious gmail.com

Without those words in between the chainedfei and the gmail.com, that is.

Ironically, the first fics I plan to release once I’m ready are Ranma fics… though it might take a while. I’m a perfectionist. If you’d like, I could grant you access to my story outlines so you can comment on them. (Use the Contact Me form so I have an e-mail to send the Google Docs invite to)

I think I’ve read “Thy Outward Part” with the rest on my TODO list. I’ll probably finish them up during my upcoming vacation. As for D.B. Sommer’s works, I haven’t read many of them, but Shampoo ½ is on my re-read TODO list. As for “Fragile Clay”, it sounds familiar. (I read a LOT of fiction)

Quality wise, my general opinion of fanfiction is that the world needs a better way to sift through it. In the “golden age”, the community was smaller and more closely-knit. Now, it’s larger, but there are a lot of idiots. Hence, we need a way to filter out the stuff which conforms to Sturgeon’s Law. If I can ever find the time, I intend to try to make http://www.ficfan.org into something like that.

If you never read Richard Lawson’s “Thy Outward Part” series, I very strongly recommend it. One of them does have Ranma pregnant and the unique problems that Ranma has to deal with in such a situation. Lawson’s fiction works were some of the finest for the golden age of Ranma Fics, though D.B. Somner and a few others are equally as fantastic.

I, as an fanfic auteur, have often dealt with the stigma of writing Onna-Ranma style fiction (I am apprehensive to claim my fiction is Onna-ranma fiction, considering that is certainly not the focus nor the point), and there are a fairly huge amount of readers in the readership who refuse to touch anything that smacks of onna-ranma.

Having lived through the best years of Ranma fanfiction (And waxing longingly for them day in and out), my own notoriety is somewhat lacking and remiss. I wrote a little known story titled “Fragile Clay” in an effort to try and put to bed the idea that all onna-ranma fics tend to be bad with predictable cliche’s and fanon POV’s throughout.

So in the sense of Ranma and pregnancy, I always felt it was discourteous of Takahashi to nip the idea in the bud… but I understand from her perspective and cultural views why the concept was something she wouldn’t warm to. Likewise, for every one ranma fanfic of any pairing premise that is worthwhile and worth reading, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of others that merely fail at the attempt.

What I meant is that, given how so many people misjudge their own skills, it’s rare to find a good pregnant Ranma fic. The only fics I consider inherently bad are ones where, regardless of their quality, the reader is supposed to enjoy seeing someone suffer.

…and as long as the quality is good enough, I’ll read anything. (I posit that as quality apporoaches infinity, the probability of deep, well-written characters getting lots of focus approaches 1… and I’ll read anything with deep, well-written characters)

I do have to agree that people need to think more about whether something has ever been done well. In my case, I do it all the time… I just haven’t yet reached a point where I’m comfortable writing fanfiction for public consumption.

But the same can be said of any premise ever devised in fanfiction. In my wholehearted opinion, a good fanfic depends almost entirely on execution by the author.

I have had the argument with many different authors about feasible storylines in the genre, and many are reluctant to attempt various different premises because “It’s been done too much,” Without ever asking the question, “Has it ever been done well?”

just some sustenance for the thinking bits.