The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

If I've given off unapproachable vibes, I'd be happy to try and change that. (For all I know, I've been doing a decent Tech-Priest impression around here.)

One thing that's suddenly seeming like a good idea is to do a bit of an oldbie introduction, so here goes: Hi, I'm Tomash! One of the main things I do around here is helping with technical stuff, like the PPC Board Archives and the T-Board (I did the programming for both of those a while back). I also do programming stuff in real life, and I'll be starting a Computer Science PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle next fall.

Media-wise, I tend to like works with sufficiently alien aliens (to pick an example, The Mote in God's Eye was good stuff, and I'd really like to convince someone else to read the Chanur books at some point). As is probably obvious from recent threads, I'm a Young Wizards fan. I'd definitely also count Harry Potter, the Culture series,Animorphs, and Anathem (which I highly recommend if you think you might be like me) among my fandoms as well.

I've also gotten into tabletop RPGs over the past year by way of the Dark Heresy campaign Mikel is running that used to be on the Discord (we moved to a separate server to avoid spamming everyone with dice rolls so much). That also happens to be how I got tossed into the 40k universe in the first place.

In random RL-related facts, I have a ham radio license that I haven't used in a while.

I'd also like to link my first post, in which I unironically plugged Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and misspelled "goodfic", in order to demonstrate that even the Old Ones started out doing vaguely silly things.

So, uh, say hi! Ask me things! (In the event you don't want to do that on the Board, my email, which also works as a Hangouts username, is clickable above.) I'm also open to beta requests (I can mainly promise an earnest attempt to look for typos and small-scale flow issues, though.)

- Tomash

It was supposed to sound more like friendly teasing. I swear.

:)

So either be proud or saddened. Because this is all your fault.

On the Pit, I set the ratings to 'all' and the language to English, which helps make things go a bit quicker. If I'm looking for an OC Sue, I add that filter on as well, but otherwise I just scroll and look for a summary that catches my eye.

If I'm in the mood for a particular type of badfic, I'll use the search bar and type in something like "lord potter' or 'veela malfoy' and go from there.

On Quotev, you can't swing a kneazle without hitting something hilariously bad, so for that site, I just bring popcorn and enjoy the ride.

I know there are a number of us out there who are still kind of afraid of some of the oldbies. I myself will admit to experiencing such fear at times. Even though I've been here long enough to know otherwise.

So when the topic came up on Discord, we all collectively decided "NO MORE!"

And by collectively, I mean like six of us at least agreed. Or something. Maybe three? The point is, people agreed, and that's good enough for me.

So, this is the "be less afraid of the oldbies" thread. Newbies! Midbies! Talk about things! Confess your fears! Interact with oldbies!

Oldbies! Talk about things! Interact with newbies and midbies! I dunno what I'm doing here anyways! I'm totally confused!

So I hope all this somehow helps with the situation. Somehow. I have no idea.

Keep pressing "next". Make sure to go to different sites: for example, in the 40k fandom FF.net tends to have higher-quality content than AO3 in my experience, and other fandoms have it reversed. The larger your fandom, the more likely you are to find something, and the faster you can find it on average.

Yesterday I, like any well-adjusted individual, decided to go on the prowl for badfic. As you can probably guess from the title, my haul was rather limited. Sure, there is the poor SpaG and dubious premises, but nothing that really jumps out as fascinatingly bad. This has been a recurring problem for me, and I suspect that it comes from a narrow band of interests which happen to not attract that many fandom-y types.

I know the solution is likely to read/watch more things. But I'm a lazy bum, and so here I am to solicit opinions. Where and how do you go about looking for badfic? Are there any tricks I'm not getting? I will pay for such information in words of gratitude and smiley faces.

Thanks in advance,

1visible.

Hello, all! Ye gods, I can't believe I'm finally doing this - neither of us can. It's been ages. But hey, Permission Application is happening one way or another.

So! Here be the writings of the two of us:
Agents and RC
Control Prompt
Random Prompt

These were all beta'd by the lovely Neshomeh, who was a huge help, as well as Granz and Thoth. And if there's someone I have forgotten, I am so sorry - please point it out in a response. I don't think I have, but human error is a thing and this took a long time. At least in my eyes.

And here be our chosen first badfic: Queen of the Mobs, a Minecraft fic. This story is riddled with SPaG errors, from minis to multiple tense shifts within a single sentence. It also has rather a fun Sue to its name - the aforementioned 'Queen of the Mobs' - who is related to both Steve and Herobrine, though the latter seems to have been forgotten after about five paragraphs (being generous). Plus a Story of Twu Wuv. With Herobrine.

But I like your idea better!

Thank you for the newbie gifts, and it's very nice to meet you! So far, I'm just re-reading through the history of the PPC. It's pretty interesting!

And agent ideas? I have a few in mind. ;)

And yeah, I'm putting up my hand in favor of tossing this up while I'm here, for reasons already stated.

I don't think there's much of a reason to throw out yet another huge vote thread - while a lot of us oldbies have fond memories of Araeph's FAQ, I don't think there's a reasonable argument that it best represents the PPC as it stands.

(Can we rename it the Common Rule of Wiki Non-objection, acronym CROWN? ^_^)

hS

Although reading Araeph’s angry rant was amusing when I found the PPC, this is the PPC I actually wanted to join much later. So let’s make this the new "FAQ: For Other People", but keep Araeph’s version for historical reference.

Should we vote about that, or just apply the Common Rule of Non-objection? So far, nobody said that it is not an improvement.

HG

Though, a lot of Cousins I've met love the worldbuilding, too. ;) Aliens that are actually alien!

But yes, this is very much an Optimist (Optimistic Realist?) series.

hS

When I think of the books I like to reread, I find I can usually characterise why very quickly. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is deep, with worlds of detail under every paragraph. Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series is incredibly clever. Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth sequence is rich in history. Aaron Allston's X-Wing books are just ridiculously funny. And Diane Duane's Young Wizards series is absolutely bright with hope.

I mean that fairly literally. Unlike most fiction involving fighting an Enemy, almost all of YW takes place in the daytime, or otherwise in the light. Light, and bringing light to dark places, is a constant theme throughout the books - Nita and Kit's wands of choice are moonlight-soaked rowan and noon-forged steel, for instance, and two of the first three books include pivotal scenes where light is used to defeat the Lone Power.

This isn't to say that they're sheer fluff - Diane establishes early on that sacrifice is necessary to achieve victory - but even there, the light-bringing theme continues. I could name at least six or seven characters who give up everything to bring literal light in and against the darkness - and yes, it's heartbreaking, but it's also worthwhile.

Diane's hopeful approach to the series is also reflected in other ways. In the other four series I listed, one way or another the characters' goal is concealment. Frodo and Sam want to sneak into Mordor. Wraith Squadron want to trick the Empire. In all of those books, being spotted is a failure, and confronting the enemy directly an act of desperation.

Not so in Young Wizards. The constant message, shown through the characters' actions in every book, is that to turn back evil you have to stand up to it. Nita, Kit and their friends and family aren't trying to work around the Lone Power, to pull off their goals without drawing Its attention - they're trying to face It. Yes, they need to prepare the ground first, and yes, they may stay stealthy for a while during the preparation - but ultimately, they draw their circles, stand forward, and declare their greetings and their defiance.

It's a very different worldview to the one I usually read, so when I want to read something that puts a heartfelt smile on my face - when I want to remember that even when sacrifice is necessary, "there's always Timeheart" - when, in fact, I just want to feel better about the world - the Young Wizards series is where I turn.

hS

"He forgot the high-energy radiation again."

"He always does."

I was think about one more generally based on bad fanfiction, rather than the PPC itself.

Write a thing! Write several things! There's some guidelines after the end of the fic, but the premise is very Plortian- all us Boarders are people who visit SIF-10 and station.

I lost.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-740181189