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In my fic I have a scene where the protagonist boards another ship by breaching the airlock, but I never really thought about how this would be done. If you simply destroyed the airlock with a bomb, the adjoining room would probably be sealed off to prevent the atmosphere from escaping the ship. In your fandoms, how do people usually breach an airlock?

I was a bit hasty there, wasn't I? So, have you read the fic now?

Yeah, July's OC got recruited, much to the real July's chagrin. Cant remember if she lost her mind though

I'm not certain, but I believe someone - July, maybe? - was ordered to PPC one of her own old fanfics and ended up recruiting. I'm not sure. I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea - after all, badfic is badfic, and it'd be a good lesson for the agent - but I imagine you'd want to wait until either your agent is sufficiently experienced to handle it or until they've done something for which the Flowers punish them.

But be careful - I don't think any PPC agents ever go into a fic for the sole purpose of saving an OC. Mary Sues and Marty Stus are often unsaveable - it's usually the bit characters we recruit. Your agents would probably have to go in and make the decision to recruit him while on the mission, not beforehand.

I suppose it doesn't matter to me how many PPCers read my missions - unlike fanfic, I do them entirely for my own fun. I was actually thinking more about how you can be the one to decide how the minis manifest or be the first to make observations about typical traits, or how you can drag anyone you like into the mission for sheer lack of other options - I wheedled Trojie into joining me for a Wicked mission even though that's entirely out of her norm just because I know no one else who'd even seen the play.

Especially if a headcrab jumped mercer.

Totally go for it. Throw in The Many while you're at it. It'd be interesting to see a headcrabbed hybrid. The zombie virus from the urban dead MMORPG might also be interesting, though given the way those zombies can come back from anything and effectively coordinate large-scale actions, it'd probably involve them destroying the other infections pretty fast once it really got going.

I'd especially like to see the humans try to combat all the viruses at once. Whose side would mercer be on?

I have no idea how this got into my head. But basically- Imagine that random infections from various fictions all existed simultaneously. The Blacklight virus from Prototype, the 28 days later Rage virus, the Left 4 Dead zombie virus, the Headcrab infestation from Half-Life, and Aliens from Aliens for the hell of it. They almost count as an infection.

I'd probably start focussing on one specific infection, then start mentioning trouble in other places, then start spreading across the world. The biggest reason I want to do this is- What happens when a headcrab jumps on a Tank's face that has a chestburster growing inside him? The horrific combinations that could occur would be awesome.

So yeah, thoughts?

Basically I'm thinking about going into one of my own stupid fanfics in order to save a Marty Stu and hire him. My question is, would the PPC send an agent into a fanfic that they have written? My agent is based off of me, but if not, then I can just change it.

In a few fandoms I'm the only one active (or was active). It may mean that you get fewer readers among other PPCers because they don't know the fandom, but you also get more room to experiment with PPC fanon for that fandom, because there are no other authors you have to keep up with.

There are no limits. As long as it's not original fiction or published (so, authorised) work, then you can PPC the badfic. It's sometimes quiite... er... 'fun' to be the only agent working for a particular fandom.

When Pads and I sporked LittlefootxCera, it wasn't finished. So we did one huuuuuuge mission up to the final posted chapter, and then as other chapters came out we sporked them individually. But I would only advocate this as a method for something where you can keep the hilarity going. If it's going to be boring, don't do it.

And the safest thing to do regarding authors is not to contact them, not to talk about them, not to do anything. We list their names with their fics on the wiki because they did write them and put their names to them, so we credit the author in that way. But we don't really want them to find out what we do with their work, because when you get right down to it, this is something we do for fun, not because we're internet police, or on some grand mission. And it'll hurt their feelings if they find out what we do. They're 99.9999% not bad people, just bad writers. Why spoil their day?

about a late message (at least not "really sorry").

For what it's worth, it was still Christmas where I live when you posted your message.

Haven't read the fic, but it looks promissing.

There's no official list of fandoms the PPC covers. The PPC covers anything that needs covering/that they have agents to work in.

The only pseudo-official fandoms are the ones that are so hugely popular that divisions have been created for them in the various departments, like LotR and HP, because they generate so much badfic. Most fandoms don't fall into this category, but that's not because they don't have badfic. It's just not so overwhelmingly common. {= P

Inversely, there are a few fandoms (Twilight, Eragon) that are hugely popular but that no agent will go near, simply because they can't distinguish between the badfic and the canon and can't be trusted not to kill canon characters. That's not to say that the PPC wouldn't cover them if they had people willing to do it, though.

Some fandoms, like Farscape, are lucky enough to have virtually no badfic. Some mediocrefic, but no badfic. I've looked, and I've never once seen any hint of a serious attempt to break up the canon romances, for example. Most of the fic on the Pit is filling-in-the-blanks or AU, with a few "canon adventures" for spice. It's astonishing. That said, if anyone ever does see Farscape badfic, please tell me. I will PPC it with vengeance.

So... yeah. It doesn't matter what fandom the badfic is in. If someone wants to PPC it, that's awesome.

~Neshomeh

What if there's a new Fandom you want to add?

Is Code Geass already a Fandom that the PPC cover?

~Xanthia B.~

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5593724/1/TheDarkestOcean

This story is in the one piece universe, but 500 years after the manga so you don't have to be too familiar with the canon. Basically a second pirate age occurs, only on a grander scale than before. While the strongest pirates travel space searching for a planet's worth of treasure left by the last pirate king, Lieutenant Mark Wagner deserts the marines to form his own pirate crew.

This is my first fanfic so give me some tough love

I love reading the posts and the comments as well. It's just so funny! They have a book published full of these failed cakes. I'm really tempted to buy it, now that I have a gift card to a certain bookstore.

I'm really sorry that the message was late, though. What do you think about the fanfic itself?

Your heart is certainly in the right place, and I agree with the basis of what you're saying - so no ethical arguments, no - but actually, I have a few nitpicks about the text itself.

This is a letter you're sending out, right? There's a few places where you seem to fly back and forth across the formality line. On one hand you sound professional, but you also say "Screw you" or use 'lolspeak' like "Plz to be noting", which doesn't really fit the tone. (I admit to having a personal grudge against 'lolspeak', and of course it depends on who, exactly, you're writing to, but consistency is a big part of presentation, and since you want to make a point, you probably shouldn't offer up alternate targets to be fired at by people who disagree.)

One definite error: keep you at arms length should be "arm's".

Also, unless the discussion is already about the PPC, I'd personally prefer if you didn't mention us. We're a small, hard-to-find community and generally seem to prefer to keep it that way. I don't think we cross the borderline you're talking about (we mock and curse the authors themselves, yes, but I don't think we jab at their personal lives, mainly because we don't know a thing about them), but why stir up trouble? Stick to mentioning MSTs, which everyone knows anyway.

But yes, overall, I agree with your point. I wouldn't call it "trolling" so much as "outright rudeness", but that's just terminology. It's also just a matter of politeness and good taste, which are points/words you may want to mention at least in passing, as they'll strengthen your argument.

...And now I'm going to shush and go to sleep, because it's too late at night for me to think straight. Good letter, in any case. Can I ask why you're writing it? (I haven't been to GAFF for about two years, so I'm out of date.)

*shrug* Posting this here because it's slightly relevant, and I want to hear what you guys think:

Private letter of kerfluffle to GAFF (in their current incarnation):

Plz to be noting that it is one thing to mock someone for doing something particularly full of fail, such as writing a truly horrible fanfic, farting loudly in church, or doing anything that would get them played off by keyboard cat. This is standard to internet culture, and if you're here, you'd better get used to it. However, mocking someone for giving a care about a legitimate concern (e.g., animal cruelty, or religion, or sufferers of debilitating health problems) is something else entirely.

Mocking someone for fail can be seen as a warning sign, should they choose to heed it. It's a sign that they're doing something wrong. (Also it's an excellent source of lulz, the gold of the intarwebz.) However, the targets of the second kind of mocking have done nothing wrong, and in fact show maturity by their caring. By mocking them you are telling them that doing that is wrong. You are saying, essentially, that animals can be tortured, anyone who believes in any religion is a sucker who should be laughed at, and people with cancer or AIDS can just die alone like they're fixing to do anyway. (None of which I believe to be true, and if you do, I pity you. And also want to keep you at arms length, with pepper spray and a katana if necessary.) "It was for the lulz" is not an excuse, if for no reason other than that the effects of what you say continue outward despite what your motives were. Screw you, I have seen too many nice people turn cynical because of stuff like that.

This, my friends, is where mocking turns into trolling.

That line is why I don't personally have a problem with MSTing and what the PPC does, even when it edges into mocking the person rather than the fanfic. The PPC, bless them (us?), does not cross that line.

Some things are just not funny.

With regards,
Piper

So. Discussion? I am right, or am I totally off-base? Is there a crucial ethical point I'm missing? I want the board's thoughts on this.

P.S. Oh gosh that was really serious, Emo-Crusader Piper! Here, Board, have some Christmas candy in various inappropriate shapes with my apologies! Don't let my emo-ness rub off on you now--it's ever so hard to get the black stains out of your clothes.

Trojie!! You were online! You're meant to be, like, New Year camping and stuffs. If I'd known you'd be about I'd've stayed in and caught you. You sod. :P

Spent hours reading it sometime last year. Excellent blog!