As far as general definition goes: The PPC is an MST-inspired parody done within the context of a much larger frame story. That's the simplest way to put it.

More than that, the PPC is a shared story-universe, because the frame story tends to overwhelm the MST aspect of it. This isn't a bad thing. The frame story--the plot protectors themselves, headquarters, etc.--is so very fun to play with. The ability to treat stories, and their constituent words, as the makeup of a physical world? Fun! Characters with the ability to move from one story world to another? Fun! Characters who, due to various comedic circumstances, complain like hell about these fantastic things? Fun! And funny.

And finally, the PPC is a community. We all have different reasons for being here, from respect for art to love of snark to simple love of the community itself, but this is a strong community. Futhermore, it's a common-interest community, so we get along well and have a lot to share with each other.

However... Because everyone has a different reason for being here and doing what we do, I think a general statement of intent can be difficult to formulate. If you say we are here to kill Sues, then you leave out the bad-slashers. If you say we are here to fix badfic, then you leave out the people who are just here for the comedy or the neat frame story. If you say we're here to write PPC stories then you leave out the people who just hang out in the community--and so on. The PPC was not originally intended to be what it is, which is something permanent and to a certain extent serious. Once the PPC turned into a community, rather than just Jay and Acacia's fun project, it was put into a state of flux. At the moment, the PPC is simply what its community uses it for. Perhaps that is how it should be, perhaps not. But for the moment? We are what we do, and our purpose here is to do it. That's all.


P.S. Sorry if that seems unhelpful? If writing a general "this is what the PPC is, and this is why we're here!" statement were easy, we would already have one, and it would work for everyone. But it isn't easy, and so I'm just trying for clarification, really. I understand why you guys don't feel comfortable here, I think. I have felt the same way, at times. But it speaks well for the community that you can bring these things up, and have them taken so seriously.

... but wasn't sure whether to release them because of them not being mission-related - they deal a bit with Agent Foxglove's less-cheerful-than-she-claims past and Agent Laburnum's psychological problems and gender identity issues, and while I may think it's fun to torment the girls, I wasn't sure if it would make people uncomfortable since they don't consist of squishing Sues in a humorous manner. I also have some bits of bonding between the agents and the M-kids, which is more funny, but since I couldn't find a mission to fit it into I wasn't sure if people would want to see it. Would people like to see stuff like that? Character development is fun.

Even the Bad Slash stuff I spork tends to involve a character replacement that needs killing, just because that's what I know how to do. I should probably find some more that won't involve a Sue-splatting ... My last one which didn't involve Sue splatting was quite fun, so it could work fine.

My thoughts on the matter are simple: Find badfic, write an interesting tale about it, where the badfic is fixed, and everything returns to normal. Of course, I haven't tested those thoughts in a story yet.

A lot of fandoms are like Rodney Dangerfield: they can't get no respect. To me, the PPC is an (albeit sometimes extreme) example of people fighting back for an accurate depiction of the stories they love.

Humankind have been telling stories almost as long as we've been humans. Early cave paintings were a method of telling stories--even if it was just "there were three guys, and they stabbed a buffalo." As our society evolved, so too did our methods for relating information. Stories entertain us, give us messages, tell us stories about who we are and what sort of world we live in. They can make us think or they can make us cry.

Fanfiction is part of that great literary tradition, too. The first work of fiction, the Epic of Gilgamesh, can be considered RPF--talking all about the fantastical adventures of a real person. But today, with universal communication and universal access via the Internet, there's an awful lot of people out there who aren't treating fiction with the respect it deserves. Authors like Tolkien put their heart and soul into creating whole worlds for us, and people use it as cheap wish-fulfillment.

PPC stands for Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Not Avengers or Inquisitors or anything like that. The purpose of the PPC is to, in some way, try to restore the status quo and preserve the works of fiction in their original form. Sure, it can sometimes get lost under the dark humor and Sue-slaying. But it began with anger over the way a great work of fiction was being mistreated, and that's how it continues. At its heart, the PPC is about respect for art.

. . . and now that sounds pretentious as hell. But that's what I think, and that's why I like it.

Before I found the PPC, I really had no concept of fanfiction besides 'movie/TV/literary characters sleep with each other regardless of actual personality.' They weren't really things I actively sought out. I didn't even know what a Mary Sue was.

I joined up because of how solid the community seemed. Almost everyone appeared to be a lot like me: smart, witty folks who didn't really take themselves that seriously. I wanted to practice my writing in a community like that.

It was actually trying to avoid the typical SCK pattern that I found the most difficult thing while writing my first missions. I scrapped quite a few drafts because I felt that my focus was shifted away from jokes and character interaction to the eventual assassination. There are still a couple missions where I think I fell into that trap.

That concern was one of the major reasons why I developed a Bad Slash team. I've actually had an easier time writing Bad Slash missions as compared to Mary Sue missions, not to mention more fun. And hey, if you're not having at least a little fun writing a story then you're probably doing it wrong.

I have no idea if anything I just wrote makes any sense in regards to the original post. If it helps, then that was my intention. If it's gibberish, than ignore me.

When I first joined, it was for the purpose of bashing badfic.

I'm not terribly good at humor, and I'm a hater of badfic. I tend not to get jokes, and the ones I do are... well... not exactly standard humor.

But--I'm going to get corny--the PPC is more than that. I didn't quite realize that when I joined; I'm a grammar Nazi at heart, and I find idiots hard to deal with. Like I said, I'm not very good at humor; I'm much, much better at writing seriously.

Unfortunately, when PPC gets serious, it becomes exactly what we don't want: "See Sue. Chase Sue. Kill Sue." This is bad. It's not what the PPC is, but it's something I have difficulty grasping, just because I am who I am.

So... yeah.

What's this about killing people? Are these people serial killers?

Holy crap, I thought this was the Podiatrist Patient Community.

Damnit, I'm in the wrong place.

The PPC has always been a community to me. I love the fact that I can talk about super geeky things and people won't act like I've got two heads. I've met a lot of good friends here. I was also introduced to the PPC by a good friend, but she hasn't been around for years.

I've never been a "See Sue, Kill Sue" person. I don't write missions (but I read them) and the humor in them is the most important thing to me. I love anything that is funny and mocking badfic, man...

Writing is one of my passions and the PPC is great about helping others improve. I never thought we were bullies. I wasn't around when a lot of the srs bzns stuff went down, so I can't really comment on that.

If it were just about killing sues, there would be little point in developing characters at all for our stories. Same with mocking badfic. It isn't about those to me, it's more about creating an enjoyable story with interesting characters while doing those at the same time. Yeah, hard to believe, coming from me, of all people... Who doesn't even have permission yet... But it just makes sense.

...Kind of ironic, how I'm saying this, but... I've still got a point. I'm not here for the sue-killing, or for the mpreg-bashing or whatever, or even for the badfic mocking...

I'm here to enjoy myself. I'm here to write for the sake of writing. I'm here because WHY THE HELL NOT.

I enjoy writing darker stuff, and I don't understand the humor in the slightest, so what? We're a community of writers, not badfic haters or comedians or monsters or anything of the sort. I do realize that there's more to this than the sue-killing, and I've tried to show it in my writing for this far too many times to count, despite it being hopelessly rejected or put under the mask of being a joke even though it's entirely serious. I just want to write, that's all.

The PPC is far more than killing stuff for fun. It means something to us, because otherwise, we wouldn't be here discussing it with you, would we?

And to me, the PPC is about expressing ourselves, and the world we've made to express ourselves with. Art is about expression, and writing is a form of art. Even if I'm not funny in any way, shape or form, or if I'm writing what's the complete opposite of what the PPC is supposed to be about in your eyes, I'm still part of this community because I'm expressing myself through what we've made as a group.

...And that's how I feel about the subject, completely unfiltered and uncensored. The PPC means something to me, perhaps even more than you people might understand. To me, simply seeing all of us work together to create something like this is amazing, and that's enough for me to keep trying.

(Just to keep up my one-post, now two-post, trend of pretentious titles.)

Before I say what I meant to say, I should get out of the way the fact that every time I see "we kill Sues", the only thing I can think of is the "movieplot" function of one of the IRC bots on a channel I frequent, which gives a movie plot like this: "He's an all-American sweet-toothed jungle king on the wrong side of the law. She's a cynical psychic femme fatale with her own daytime radio talk show. They fight crime." Just switch "They fight crime" for "They kill 'Sues".

I cannot speak to past issues, but I can talk about what the PPC is to me, and later speak from mostly ignorance about the variety of subject matters in PPC stories.

The reasons I liked the Original Series were not the killing of 'Sues, but the fact that Jay and Acacia picked up on the things I notice even in my daily life: punctuation errors, spelling mistakes, capitalization errors, the kinds of things that create new characters who have one line. The kinds of things that make My Immortal so much fun to read — funny as it is without this interpretation, it becomes even more surreal and bizarre if you interpret each misspelling of a character's name as a new character. Also there are constant references to characters doing things "4 Eva" or "4 eva" or "4eva", but no detail is ever given about the character of Eva. One has to wonder...

But I digress. The point is, the Original Series focused relatively little attention on the deaths of the 'Sues. In short, what I like about the PPC has nothing to do with killing 'Sues and everything to do with the rest of the content of the stories — the interactions between the Agents, the interactions between the Agents and canons, the adoption of spelling errors when appropriate, the travel sickness as the stories covered vast distances in a single word, etc. Not that I enjoy travel sickness, but you know what I mean.

In the grander scheme of things, speaking from ignorance, I think one of the problems is that 'Sues are just plain easier to spot and attack. If there's a female character joining the Fellowship, either in addition to or in place of one of the natural Nine, that sets alarm bells ringing. If a The Dark is Rising story stars a girl who isn't Jane, that does, too, even before she's revealed to be Bran's half-sister or Will's American cousin. It's much more difficult to spot bad slash if the structure of the story is decent, that is, if it's capitalized, spell-checked, etc. appropriately.

Coming from that perspective as a Star Wars fan, I think we should be wary of always taking the easy path — as everyone knows that's a surefire way to fall to the Dark Side.

As other people have mentioned, the PPC at its best is not about killing 'Sues, but about protecting and restoring canon. It's right there in the abbreviation: Protectors of the Plot Continuum. 'Sues are just one of many ways to do that, and I think other ways tend to get overlooked because they require a bit more consideration.

As far as non-fic related things, the reason I like wandering around TVTropes or reading OFUM — not having been here too long, I can't really speak for the PPC just yet — is that I like seeing that other people enjoy the things I enjoy, fandom-wise, and knowing that I'm not the only one who's read and loved, for example, Animorphs. With people in real life, I tend to get eye-rolls and "Oh, those were great when I was in elementary school". They're still great! I want to yell, but that would be awkward.

Final point: as far as espousing goodfic, the problem I see is that there isn't really a way for the PPC to do that, besides its primary endeavor of mocking badfic. The first thing that comes to mind as a solution would be having, like, a "featured goodfic" on the main page of the Wiki, but beyond that I don't know how much it's possible to do.

Hope someone found that comprehensible/interesting/useful.

Regards,
Lleu Llaw Gyffes

To me, the PPC is a place full of nerds where I can be nerdy. More specifically, where having an anal-retentive knowledge of an obscure 80's TV show or an out-of-print novel is not only accepted, but celebrated.

That's what the PPC boils down to for me: a celebration of the fictions we've loved. I think its inherent humor revolves around the fact that we're writing about stories we love and enjoy, and we want others to get that same good feeling.

Maybe, if we go through with the "new image" plans, part of it can be focusing on the canon being restored to its former state at the end of the mission, and make that the climax more than the Sue-kill, or whatever? The PPC: Battling Badfic to Cure Canon.

(I guess that wasn't so brief, which is appropriate, because I'm a boxers guy.)

Yep, it's the humor. but it says something about me that I didn't notice the slip towards "See Sue, Chase Sue, Kill Sue". As for my actions during the accusation episode, the less said about them, the better.

I haven't been here long. At all, really-- but even before I came here I was doing badfic parody.

And now a friend and I have an epic spin-off fanfic in the works with PPC themes in it. It's over 50 pages and in progress, and is likely to span over novel-length. And we have sequels in mind, too. Whether or not it will ever be posted, remains to be seen.

I love exploring fandom. I love exploring what people think and get out of their favorite modern-day mythologies. I love exploring mindsets that can go into interpreting canon. I came here because really, that's what this is about-- one, more mature mindset, poking a bit of fun at a less sophisticated (and kind of embarassing) mindset from the past and showing how goofy it is.

I know so many people who have 'gotten over' the Mary Sue thing, or as extension, the entire badfic thing. It's one mindset. It's not right, but then again, neither is the mindset of an assassin.

But like those goofy cubical-top-mounted Nerf dart turrets, or packing peanut catapults set up in office buildings worldwide, it's a goofy and unthreatening sort of war I personally fight.

So I don't feel bad for hanging out here yet. Or writing long goodfic (I hope!) about an Urple Nexus infesting all of Assassin's Creed.

Well, I'm a newbie here, and I've already come across some stories that are exactly that (See Sue, Chase Sue, Kill Sue).
I intend to write a spin-off as soon as I can, and I've been researching everything I can (from PPC history - Reorganisation and such - to lots of other things).
One of the principles that I think is fundamental for the organisation, regardless of department or division, is the Rule of Funny. If people don't follow it, let them be, but don't give up because of it. I'm not censoring you for taking a break, but really, if you don't like what you're reading because it's not funny enough, close the tab (if your browser has tabs. If it hasn't, I suggest you upgrade it). I've done it half a dozen times.
But if you leave, then you'll be reducing the output of good (funny) stories, and you'll be contributing for the "Sue-slayer" reputation.

This may seem a bit like emotional chantage, and that's exactly what it is (joking).

Recently I've been lurking for similar reasons, although I was already mostly invisible by the time the whole bullying thing cropped up.

I don't think we're bullies. If we went after the authors then that label might be justified, but such actions would be condemned by the community as a whole, or at least so I would hope.

I'm sorry for not speaking up about that idiotic remark about mpreg, but I didn't feel that I had the right to speak up. I've been barely here for so long, that I feel that there's no one who'd listen if I did try and engage someone over a comment about a genre that is one of the most disliked (and usually badly done) in fanfiction.

What attracted me to the PPC, like many other people, is the humour. I wandered in through OFUM, and I enjoyed the way a group of talented writers were able to turn Mary Sue fics into something funny and worth reading. And, despite the way the people here on the Board mocked bad fanfiction, they also loved good fanfic. This was somewhere where I could just be a fan, and learn something about becoming a better writer in the process.

But then we started getting floods of Tropers with the wrong ideas about the PPC. Emergencies and crises became commonplace. Everything became SRS BZNS for a while. I faded into the background because I wanted no part of that. Even when the law was laid down, I continued to lurk. I was content on the fringes, only commented on rare occasions.

And then I realised that all the newbies that were flooding in were getting Permission and starting their own spinoffs. I saw all these new writers adding to PPC canon and contributing to the whole, while I get writer's block within about two sentences every time I try and write a mission. I felt like a failure, so I stayed quiet still.

I won't lie and say I read every spinoff. Not everyone's writing style appeals to me. I will say, though, that DMS/Sue-killing missions are my least favourite type. They've become formulaic, as you've summed up with your statement of "See Sue. Chase Sue. Kill Sue." Would I read Sue-killing missions if they weren't so formulaic? Probably.

If I'm a lurker, why am I still here? Because of friends. There are some wonderful people in this community, and I'd feel bad if I left completely. Despite everything, this is a good community and, if we make a little effort, it'll stay that way for a long time yet, I hope.

...the PPC is about exposing badfic, but it's also about talking to a fun group of people who like goodfic, being able to help my own writing by talking to them and knowing they won't flame you or be all "You're crap, get out." It's about a community of people who like good writing and having fun.

It's a whole lot of things, honestly. Awesome people, writing that's entertaining -- without a whole lot of serious, angst, or drama, a shared love of good writing and the light-hearted mocking of bad writing. (And by bad writing, I do mean just bad writing, not writing with distasteful subject matter. YKINMK, after all.)

I'm not very vocal on the Board, though I do hang around the IRC a lot, and I've made good friends here. The shared universe we all play in is delightfully wacky and enormously hilarious, and... my train of thought left me standing at the station.

Point is, at least for me, the PPC isn't just see sue -- chase sue -- kill sue. It's a whole bunch of other awesome things with a bit of cathartic suekilling thrown in.

There's my two cents, for posterity and whatnot. I'll follow what this thread brings up with interest.

We'd just like to say we're glad you guys aren't gone gone. Neshomeh in particular misses you guys, and is really sorry you felt unwelcome, and wants you back as soon as you want to be back.

We agree with what Calista said about many people being uncomfortable with slash/mpreg sorts of fics, and that's probably a partial explanation for why so few people go that direction with their agents. It actually obeys the "your kink is not my kink" rule. Also, it is really easy to spot a bad OC; other things aren't always so clear.

On the other hand, we also agree that our image outside of the community needs some serious, serious attention. It's true, places like TVTropes and whatnot tend to focus exclusively on the Sue-slaying--probably because it's a common, well-known concept and they don't bother to investigate us any deeper. That's why we had such an issue with the So Sue Me people, too. They lumped us in with everyone else without stopping to find out what really goes on over here, and because that's all they were concerned about, that's the only way we could talk to them. So, for that reason, we're all for getting the real story out there as much as possible. There are some Tropers around here who can at least get on it over there.

It's not that we don't love you guys and your writing. We do. You contribute significantly to the diversity of this place, which is why we want you back. It's not that we don't support Bad Slashers and Disentanglers and everything else. It's just that Sues are so gosh-darn easy to go after. It's probably related to the fact that they're so gosh-darn easy to write, and write badly, in the first place.

However (again), we agree with Sedri that lots of Sue-missions focus too much on getting to the kill and less on the poking the bad writing and hilarious effects thereof. In Barid's words, the kill should be a punctuation mark in the sentence of the overall mission, and we're both attempting to make it so in our work.

Incidentally, Neshomeh is on a hunt for crossovers in her fandoms that are bad enough to PPC that don't also contain a Sue or a character replacement. Harder to find than you might expect.

We would also like to mention FicPsych, which we've noticed has been focusing more and more on agents lately. Neshomeh didn't mean to set a trend when she wrote Ilraen's story; it was meant to be a fairly unique occurance. We'd like to see someone write about the nurses dealing with canons. Neshomeh has plans for one of these.

As for what the PPC is for us...

For Barid, the PPC is jokes, gags, and funny. He tries to bring the funny in his writing. He is not interested in writing, or reading, agents one-upping the other guys with their assassinations. His agents are in the All-Purpose Department for a reason. He has plans to deal with badfic in the Warcraft continuum that do not deal with Sues.

For Neshomeh, the PPC has always been about writing practice, learning to write humor, sharing interests in books, crazy rambling discussions, and FUN. She has a history of sharply curtailing people who try to make the PPC into SRS BSNS, and she will continue to do so.

~Neshomeh (who isn't sure how coherent this post is, but hopes it helps) and Barid (who recently had quite a lot of fun reading Agents Trojie and Pads' escapades during the gender-bender incident).

I'm not very active on here, mostly I just lurk, but the reason I wanted to be apart of this community was for the humor. I loved TOS, because they were funny, not particularly because they killed Sues.

And what this leads me to is saying that I think the missions you two have been writing have followed more in the tradition of TOS than most I've read. Baring TOS the Trojie and Pads missions are my favorites, no contest. It would make me very very sad if you stopped releasing missions.

And about changing the Constitution, I think it's probably about time, seeing as the PPC has grown so much. As you say, there's more to it than just Sue slaying.

Other than that I don't have much to say, although it would be a very great pity if you stopped releasing missions.

The PPC is a place that makes good stories out of bad ones. Anyone can make an acerbic review, but the PPC makes entertaining, funny stories out of honest critique. Yes, there is a large focus on Sue killing. But there is a much larger focus on making fun characters who bounce off each other well.

Also, I would like to take the opportunity to thank both of you for your plethora of amusing and entertaining missions. It was because of you two that I first got interested in the PPC.

I've been kind of lethargic lately in terms of missions. I have one that I'm working on that I've stopped working on and haven't continued working on for about a half a year now. Lately I've been spending my efforts on MSTs, which for some reason are more fun than actual missions. Really, the Sue-killing part has faded into the background, and right now I'm mostly having a bunch of fun fleshing out the two agent pairs I have now, as well as polishing up a third pair to introduce eventually, when I have a few more missions up for the ones that I've already made known.

The PPC, at least to me, is no longer about just finding bad fanfictions and poking fun at what's wrong with them, though this still is a large part. Really, I see the PPC as a place where I can cement my knowledge of the do's and don'ts of writing, and I can have a lot of fun while doing so. Personally, I love the creativity that goes into the PPC canon itself, and writing my characters in such a wacky setting is loads of fun.

So... yeah. The PPC, to me, is pretty much about having fun and learning how to write better. I was always under the impression that this was the point of the PPC to begin with.

Hope this helps.

I initially came across the idea of killing 'Sues (well, more of the plot bunnies that create them) via Bitemetechie's wonderful BunnyBusters series, found here and here. The PPC reminds me so strongly of that- the general snarkiness of the characters, the main point of the stories, and much more- but honestly, what mainly attracted me to the PPC was the sense of community here. I'm not sure what you mean by the whole bullying thing, as I'm relatively sure I joined after all that went down, but I can see how it might affect people. For instance (and isn't it funny how life works), one of the people I did drama with last quarter had a story of hers that had a mission written about it, and told me about it a few weeks after I joined the PPC. She wasn't particularly happy about it, but I could see why the fic needed to be taken care of.

People never like criticism, even if it's just gentle satire that's poking fun at a particular idea. That goes beyond the realm of fanfic as we all know, so it's not particularly anything new. I agree that the general purpose of the PPC is more than anything to mock badfic, and I know that I've been guilty of focusing mainly on taking care of Mary Sues. I've a plan to remedy that, but it's probably not going to be until I finish this bit of character arcing I've started for one of my DMS agents.

As for what we should do about it, I rather like the idea of there being a sort of in-universe image revamp. I know I'd have fun seeing battle-weary Agents, regardless of Department, trying drum up recruits at say, a job fair or a convention (SDCC maybe? It's current... *shrugs*) and just wishing that they could be out fighting 'Sues or Slash-Wraiths or whatever. My mind works in odd ways, yes, but then again, who has a normal mind here, anyways?

And that, more than anything, is what I like about the PPC, and I'll say it once again- the community. I know I'm excited about the Seattle Gathering that coming up soon, and I'm already planning to get up Glod-awfully early to get there on time. That's all I'm gonna say; I know I'm rambling.

Pretzel

P.S. Oh, and the vocabulary. I'm lovin' the vocabulary. I already picked up stuff from Firefly, but now I'm using things like "glauranging" and "Glodawful". Thanks. ;)

A little over half of the missions I have written (if I count the one I just finished that isn't published yet) do not deal with Sues. I tend to worry a lot more over the non-Sue missions, because of the "Your kink is not my kink" issue. Maybe that is a good thing. I put a lot of thought into choosing those fics, asking myself if I would read a story along those lines if it was well done. Sometimes I decide, no I wouldn't and pass it up. I honestly don't like mpreg stories (although I can admit to you having shown me at least one humor based one that was good that I did like), so until I can answer that I could be happy reading non-humor based mpreg, I won't be targeting them. There are several other things that I can think of I won't be targeting, and several things I can think of that I wish were done well more often. I think I am probably harder on the things that had the potential to be something I would have liked, but went the badfic route instead of working at it. Then when I pick one like that I worry about whether I am being too harsh, because my expectations were high.

If you (or anyone else) ever see anything I've done that you don't feel was appropriate, tell me. I really don't want to judge it wrong and target one I should have left alone. Anyway, lots of worrying, and all centered around the missions that don't have a pink glittery sign blinking over the whole fic shouting "I am a Sue! Someone kill me please!" Those are a lot simpler in terms of group consensus as to what is good and bad.

Reasons I joined the PPC:
1. It's a lot of fun.
2. It's a pretty nice community that also broadens my horizons a bit, because it such a diverse group.
3. To improve my ability to write humor.
4. To improve my ability to write dialogue.
5. To mock badfic.
6. To have a place where I can receive feedback from reviews, betas, etc. in a relatively safer environment than the publishing industry, from a group of people who adhere to a strict goodfic policy and as a community are willing to help each other become better writers.

(I really hope that I have actually said what I am trying to say. I'm sorry if I didn't.)

Good question.

It's a place where you can mention how you used to rip the heads off of Barbie dolls when you were a kid, and you get a handful of replies that quickly turn into a discussion on Barbie dolls, branching out into how terribly wrong they are to give impressionable young girls, and on the other branch, on how much fun it is to mutilate them.

It's a place where you can post some strange, weird, quirky news story that looks like someone gacked it from a Neil Gaiman short story, and people react by creating a world around it, or just with interesting conversation.

It's a place where you can tell someone, "You're cool and all, but honestly if you don't start capitalizing your proper nouns, I will turn this flamethrower on you," and you get eight cheers, two eye-rolls, and one wall of text about the dogma of capitalizing the pronoun for yourself, and how postmodernism exposed it. (I'm pretty sure that's never happened, at least not quite like that. But it could!)

It's a place where a bunch of strange, interesting, crazy, and awesome people get together to talk about and write good fanfiction, and help each other and other writers out, to keep sanity by laughing at bad fanfiction (and occasionally bad fiction, full stop), and often/occasionally other things.

It's the place where I learned about Terry Pratchett, which gives it a special meaning right off.

It's a crazy, crazy universe with Flowers That Be, and literal plotholes, and consoles that shouldn't be able to talk but do, and a fountain of Beepka, if you can find it; a place where the only way to get where you're going is to stop trying to get there, a place that's impossibly huge and impossibly small, where there are agents of every conceivable race, whether we've written them yet or not.

It's the place where I met my unrelated older brother, and too many close friends to try counting. The place where I grew up, in many senses of the word.

It's a canon and fandom that you can belong to without having written a mission in years, or without ever having written a mission-- and ye gods am I glad for that.

No, the PPC is not See Sue, Chase Sue, Kill Sue, and I hope it never will be. And thank you, for saying this, because I agree with just about all of what you've said here, and I really hope we don't lose you. You're both an integral part of the craziness; please stay.

You're my friends, and I had no idea you felt that uncomfortable, and that unwelcome. I'm sorry. :(

I know I'm more than guilty of being vicious with the killing of Sues in my missions, but from my perspective, that's not what missions are about at all. When I think of the PPC, the first things I think of are the absurd gadgets and the use of plotholes like doorways - the mind-boggling manifestations of bad writing. Yes, I use mission-writing as a way of relieving stress when I'm upset or frustrated with a particularly bad badfic, but what I'm most proud of - and what I remember most about what I've read or written - are things like the Capillary Towel, or the navigation of HQ's corridors; the things that make us so different from characters like Bourne.

Regarding the bullying argument... once it was over, I more or less ignored it. I don't believe that we are bullies or that we ever have been, though I can see why some people may feel attacked. I don't know if it helps you, Trojie, but in your shoes, I would've been happy to see that my department wasn't really involved in the debate - the fact that "PPC" had been essentially equated with "DMS" seemed like less of an issue than the fact that we were mocking fics at all; Sues were just the easy focus. But I see where you're coming from.

Maybe there's a way to remedy this. Maybe we could all, as a community, make a point of toning down the death-focus in our missions, or take the time to write something set in the PPC that isn't a mission. Maybe those of us whose agents are assassins can have them branch out, be more versatile - tackling highly OOC fics and performing exorcisms rather than killing replacements. There are many options.

Any takers? Can we arrange to do more things like FanficLand, perhaps? Can we make a group effort to mock non-Sue badfics? I don't see why we can't. Perhaps we could even create an in-universe explanation - nothing as dramatic as the Emergencies (perish the thought), but perhaps the Flowers will decide that the PPC's public image (*cough, cough*) needs improvement and so make non-Sue missions priority for a while?


As for amending the constitution and such, I'm all for it. Go forth and tweak.

Did I answer your question? I think I did. To me, the PPC is about silliness and poking fun at badfic, with a tactful definition of what is "bad". I generally stick to Suefics because I am very good at telling when an OC is a Sue or not, and avoid bad slash missions because I'm no judge of slash. I always PPC fics that are to the extreme end of "bad", not the middle-ground ones. However, in light of what you're saying, I see no reason why I can't cart my agents off to work on OOC fics for a while - it's not like we can't spot bad characterisation. And that would be more fun (and less destructive), which is, as you say, the point.



...So will you please come back? I'm not kidding when I say I feel awful. I miss you two.

I see people mutilating the books I love, and it's just so wonderful to read fics that show people setting it right. Simple as that. Plus, there's the opportunity to write what I guess is metafiction--something I've always liked, ever since I realized the concept existed--basically, stories about stories.

Killing Sues isn't particularly important to me; it's more of a means to an end. This would be why I've put my agents in Floaters. I want to try them all--exorcisms, geographical aberrations, messed-up crossovers, kidnapped canons, and yes, Mary Sues.

I learned some writing tips from the missions I read. I can only hope that other writers will eventually learn from the ones I write. If I can get past the writer's block on Page Five of mine, that is. :P

Something else I like about the PPC is the concept of the PPC itself. The idea of an organization that polices fan fiction just tickles my fancy. I keep on working out the details of the "rules" of the PPC continuum--which are internally consistent, despite the fact that they're nothing like the way our world works. (My standard approach when I fall in love with a new continuum is to find out everything about it.)

In the PPC, everything depends on irony and humor and Murphy's Law; and they're real "laws of physics", enforced by a Legal Department, no less. Even the inconsistent things have an explanation--HQ is just that weird, and what else would you expect from a place that runs on plot holes and has access to dozens of continua with time machines?

Also: The relief from angst, from "badass" characters, and from general taking-itself-way-too-seriously fiction. It's nice to see characters who face death and insanity every day without wangsting or turning into musclebound Schwarzenegger clones. I love watching underdogs succeed; and that's what PPC agents basically are. Very, very snarky underdogs, in most cases, which makes it even better. Even the "serious" PPC stories avoid the overly-dramatic issue. (Does anybody read the webcomic "Order of the Stick"? It's done a very similar thing, creating serious plotlines while keeping a great level of humor, much like the PPC.)

And of course there's the benefit of talking to other people who also love books. That's always a bonus for me; in real life, I mostly meet people who are into video games or TV shows, and I don't get the opportunity to talk about books all that much.

I was originally drawn to the PPC's wiki by the humor I found on the TVTropes page. Through the wiki, and the stories I discovered via said wiki, I discovered a community of genuinely cool people who enjoyed writing humorous and occasionally serious stories parodying some of the worst fanfic out there. Not out of any desire to be malicious, but rather for humor's sake, and to make those badfic slightly more tolerable. Anyone who says that the PPC is a group of bullies has obviously never bothered to get to know the members, or payed close attention to the wiki. After all, the other thing the PPC is about is helping people write better. That's why we have a whole chain of beta-readers, and why we're willing to give tips to fanfic writers outside of the PPC to help them write better. Because that's what the PPC does. They mock badfic, but they're not mean about it. They're always willing to help those who want it to write better.

As a side note, I really do hope that Trojie and Pads continue to write new PPC stories. It may sound a little silly, but I kind of look up to you two, and hope to be as good of a writer as you two are one day. You guys are also part of the reason why I'm planning on focusing more on badslash once I get around to requesting permission.

Granted, not as many people seem to find it as easy to spork bad slash, but I'm fairly confident in saying that in the community, at least, bad slash missions are generally dearly loved, hence your fame. I personally keep meaning to try to find a new fic for my Bad Slashers, or a crossover, because I'm getting a little tired of seeing Sue-missions everywhere I turn.

In short, I think you're right. We're not just a Sue-sporking community, we're a community for mocking bad writing of all kinds and (just as importantly) celebrating good. Bring back the PPC's beloved diversity!