Subject: To add a newer opinion, for some semblance of balance
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Posted on: 2020-10-25 19:17:50 UTC

I mean, it probably isn't that balanced, since I pretty much agree with Neshomeh. I feel like people either generally agree with that ethos or don't, and if they don't they often don't end up joining the PPC.

I do however think if I were to go about constructing a mission for a fic (which I wouldn't yet, don't have permission), I wouldn't take into account a "please don't spork" request- if someone really doesn't want something sporked, sorry, but they probably shouldn't publish it publicly. Public fic is open to criticism in the same way published lit is, and sporking is a form of criticism. The standard PPC explanation makes as much sense to me now as it did when I read it on the wiki.

However, I think I might view the fic differently if, as you said, it's more of a guilty pleasure fic. A fic should, in my opinion, be judged based on its goals: humorfic should be judged more on it being funny than it making logical sense, and I might be more lenient in criticizing OOC moments (though in my opinion it should be possible to make things funny without having to force characters OOC), crackfic has a pretty different set of parameters for what makes it good, fluff isn't trying to construct an elaborate plot with high stakes, and so on. So if it's more of a fic about wish fulfillment or other guilty pleasures, I think I'd try to judge it by how it succeeds in those sorts of goals as much as by the traditional PPC metrics of glitter content, canon compliance, and so on.

I think my main criticisms of wish fulfillment fic revolve more around how it relates to the original canon's appeal. For instance, if a Harry Potter fic throws everyone out of character in order to have a bunch of NSFW shenanigans involving anime demons, I'll probably be screaming at the fic to please pick a canon known for NSFW anime demons. But if a fic about, say, the Graceling universe has a main character with powers that tend to be broadly applicable and powerful who helps to fix a lot of the canon's problems with politics, I'll mind that a lot less because that's close to the appeal of the original canon. I mean, I'll definitely still be willing to be critical of the latter, but it helps if I can see why someone wanted to write something.

So all that is to say, if a guilty pleasure fic isn't aiming to be a great love letter to canon or a fascinating reinterpretation, I might not mind that.

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