The Mission Report Challenge

You may be looking for Mission Report, a vid by lim created for this challenge.

Challenge
Name:	The Mission Report Challenge
Date(s):	August 21, 2006
Moderator(s):	Cesperanza
Founder:	Cesperanza
Type:
Fandom:	Stargate: Atlantis
Associated Community:	SGA Flashfic
URL:	The Mission Report Challenge; archive link page 1; archive link page 2; archive link page 3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Mission Report Challenge was issued at sga_flashfic by Cesperanza on August 21, 2006. 34 fanworks were created before the challenge was closed on September 11, but in the meantime one of the rules for the challenge had caused a lot of controversy.

The original challenge announcement post, and the posts in response, were written just over two weeks after The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle, and plagiarism, intertextuality, and bricolage were heavy on many fans' minds.

The discussion surrounding this challenge was likely a factor in the controversies a few months later surrounding Coming Home and Take Clothes Off As Directed.

There were 135 comments to the original post before the comments were frozen.

After the mod tweaked the wording and policy regarding permissions, fans were able to weigh in regarding allowing other fans to transform their fanworks. According to the posts at the official sga_flashfic site, there were 115 "opt-ins" and 36 "opt-outs"

Some Topics Discussed

• fannish norms and manners
• asking permission before remixing fanfic, writing sequels to fanfic, or otherwise using a fanfic as a springboard to another fanfic
• opt-in and opt-out permissions
• the differences between pro writers and fan writers in regards to gossip, hurt feelings, monetary and other compensation
• egoboo
• remixing

Related Posts, Meta, and Papers Citing This Challenge

• Mission Report Clarification (aka "Running Challenges Is Harrrrd") (August 21, 2006)
• The Homophobic Remix Rag (August 22, 2006)
• Remixing the Remix: Fannish Appropriation and the Limits of Unauthorised Use by Kristina Busse, Shannon Farley (2013)
• Asking permission from the pros by liviapenn (August 20, 2006)
• Hey, here's something new..., ^{Archived version} by Carolyn Claire (August 21, 2006)
• 11 cents on the sga flashfic wankery, ^{Archived version} by Mary the Fan (August 21, 2006)
• And then I said stuff. by liviapenn (August 23, 2006)
• I will help you to get this concept. Look deep into my eyes., ^{Archived version} by Carolyn Claire (August 25, 2006)
• LJ: on the permissions discussion, far afield and here at the 'Gates, ^{Archived version} by shusu (August 25, 2007)

The Challenge

Okay, this comes from an idea by daydreamer and it's like, three--three!--cool challenges in one! As she puts it:

I'd love to see a Mission Report Challenge. We all know some crazy shit happens on those other worlds, and authors could choose to a) write a (pornalicious?) Report That Will Never Actually Be Filed Because Elizabeth Would Freak Out And Such, b) write a euphemistically suggestive report that leaves those of us with dirty minds quite clear on what happened, without being explicit, or possibly c) take another author's story and write a report of type a or b for it.

Everybody got that? See, it's kind of a Document Challenge and it's kind of a Remix and it's kind of Classified and Porny--or not; it's a festival, really. Now to clarify about option c)--if you choose to write a mission report of somebody else's story, we'll ask you to credit them, but we won't require you to ask their permission. Edited to add: and get their permission, or check the links below. HOWEVER, if you want to opt OUT of option c)--i.e. tell people that they can't write a mission report of your story or stories, even with credit--please leave a comment in this post ASAP. Edited to add: link to new opt-out post below! We WILL ask challenge respondents to check before posting that the writer hasn't opted out of the challenge. Edited to add: Merryish reminds me to say that it is, of course, perfectly acceptable to write a mission report on one of your own stories!

It's August 21st; stories will be due on Monday, September 4th, Labor Day, at midnight.

Fan Comments and Reactions: At the Original Post

The very first comment was one that addressed the third option: other fans remixing an existing fanfic with and without permission.

Many other comments followed, including many by fans who simply posted that they opted out.

Some examples:

[rosewildeirish]:

Opting out of option C, please.

[chopchica]:

I'm opting out, please.

[mice1900]:

All I ask is that nobody make any of my stories into McSheps, thanks.

[i icie]:

I'm not a member, but I write SGA, so just in case... I'm opting out of C, unless personally asked.

Other excerpts at the original post:

[kyrdwyn]:

Can we opt out, except if permission for a specific story has been asked for?

What I'm really concerned about is someone taking story and putting a spin on it that I didn't intend and/or want - like putting a Sheppard/Teyla spin on a story that was gen, etc, and not checking with me first, since I'm the one who had the original idea, and I know (from comments, etc) that people can read things into fics that aren't (supposed) to be there....

(I'm asking because another writer/good friend has already asked permission to use one of my stories, and I don't want giving her permission to seem like I'm granting *everyone* permission to just take and re-write.....)

Also, sorry, another thought I had - are you limiting the writers we can choose from to sga_flashfic members, or is anyone who has ever written SGA fic fair game? Because if they're not on the list, they won't know to opt out, and I know a lot of writers who might like to opt out for whatever reason.

It would be a bit of a shock for Writer A to find out September 5th that Writer B did a mission report to their fic, and they weren't asked and are offended/insulted/etc by the fic entirely....(because yes, I'm like McKay and constantly imagine the worst case scenario).

Just hate to see the community get a bad rep for "encouraging" something like that (because people will gripe...this is the internet)....

[hth the first]:

Right, because God forbid we write stories that make use of ideas someone else came up with. I personally write to Martin Gero before each and every story I post on the internet to clear it with him; I keep his postcards in a little file folder in my fireproof safe so that I can pull them out and show them to anyone who asks. Otherwise I might come across as encouraging taking another writer's material and putting a spin on it that writer might not care for, and at all costs I don't want to do that.

This is the internet, after all. *g*

[kyrdwyn]:

Well, then, why bother to check with anyone at all in this challenge? Why bother to have an opt out procedure? Every writer for him/herself and to hell with the consequences!

Look, I'm just saying that those of us in the community have fair warning of this challenge, and the chance to opt out if we are being sensitive about our own fics. Outsiders don't. And I know there are writers who will go ballistic if someone takes their gen story and puts a McShep spin on it because they absolutely *hate* the idea of McShep. You really want someone to re-work Alpha Centauri into a character triad other than Sheppard/Dex/McKay?

We've all got our pairing squicks, and pairings we just prefer not to read, much less have someone put into one of our own fics.

(As for the SGA/SG-1 writers - they knew what they were getting into - how long has fanfiction been around? Hell, how many of them have admitted to knowing of it/reading it?)

[harriet spy]:

They're not putting anything "into" your fic. Your fic is still your fic no matter what sequels, revisions, or reworkings anyone else writes. If you're deeply concerned about unauthorized interpretations of your work, I'd recommend not posting it at all--every reader is going to make her own meaning out of each story, and it may be something very different from what you would authorize.

[rosewildeirish]:

You're missing the point. Anyone can read into a story what they'd like. Posting a sequel or a remix version of it is different. It's one thing if you've signed up for a remix challenge - and you're still taking chances, there - it's another to have no idea that your fic is being redone or reinvisioned.

[harriet spy]:

You're missing the point. Anyone can read into a story what they'd like. Posting a sequel or a remix version of it is different.

No, I don't think I'm missing the point. Someone could take my darkest, creepiest, saddest story and write a "mission report" that represents it as light, fluffy, silly, and featuring a pairing I find loathsome. That doesn't change my story one bit. It's still there. The words haven't changed one iota. No one's forcing a meaning on the story, and if they already took that meaning from the story, then whether they write it down and post it or not doesn't change a thing.

I find this position particularly baffling in that 95% of fanfic is nothing but reenvisioning someone else's work. And, no, they didn't give you permission, especially not to turn their space adventurer show into a Big Gay Romantic Comedy. I can't possibly claim more rights in my vision of John than I grant to the people who actually came up with him.

[nel ani]:

How is their concern differnt from companies that are known to send cease adn desist letters to fanficcers?

They don't make money of fanfic. At least, I hope not. ;)

[hth the first]:

As for the SGA/SG-1 writers - they knew what they were getting into - how long has fanfiction been around?

And if it were up to me, that's what I'd say to fandom as well. This is what we do: we play with texts. Sometimes you may think the way we play with yours is cool, sometimes it may squick you or bore your or strike you as dumb beyond belief. Que sera sera. This is what we do.

By tradition, fandom treats fanfiction as the inviolable expression of one's innermost soul and pro fiction as meat for the grinder. It's not logical, but it's tradition. And in the case of this challenge in particular, the rules aren't mine to set, nor did I suggest they should be changed, so relax. You've got your exemption.

[seperis]:

Because Ces says so.

I'm still debating how I feel about an opt-out instead of an opt-in here--but seriously, that's not a great precedent to set. No one can give permission to remix another person's story; only the author can do that.

We can come down to a simple, does the fandom author have control of their work in fandom OR the writer does not and the work is fair game at any time. Either way, Ces doesn't have the authority to open season on anyone's fic. Honestly, depending on which of the above is correct or accepted, it's either the author only or no permission required.

[hth the first]:

Either way, Ces doesn't have the authority to open season on anyone's fic.

No, but she has the absolute authority to decide what may and may not be posted on sga_flashfic. Whether or not people have a moral and ethical right to tinker with someone else's story, the simple truth is there isn't actually a fandom police and we can't stop them. What we can do, if we wish, is bar them from publishing it in certain venues to show our disapproval. That's at the discretion of community/list/archive moderators.

[callmeri]:

No one can give permission to remix another person's story; only the author can do that.

But how does this differ from we (meaning, fanfiction writers) remixing canon without permission from the show's writers?

I'm not trying to be contrary here, truly, I'm just genuinely curious about this distinction.

[seperis]:

I'm not sure there is a real [precedent], other than a fandom precedent set that usually, in most fandoms, in most communities, it's heavily frowned upon to rewrite someone else's story. There's this very nice point in slodwick's lj made that since we don't get paid, our only currency *is* that work itself, but while I like how it reads, I'm not sure of that either.

I mean, this isn't terribly logical; it feels genuinely wrong *to me* to remix a story without permission, but that's the fandom--um, scruples? rules?--that I absorbed early on in my fannish career. But at least a part of it is that whether or not it's technically a wrong act, in fandom are my friends, my community, and people I genuinely like and respect, screwing around with people's fic--or artwork or vids--feels like a violation of the community.

Again, I must point out, this is specific to *me* here, not a generalized statement of how other people *should* feel.

[misspamela]:

I just want to point out that the challenge is not to actually remix a story, but to write a mission report for that story. So, for example, I'd write John trying (and failing) to explain how Rodney got turned into a dinosaur without saying, "Rodney got turned into a dinosaur" no an official military report. I wouldn't, however, write a whole different story about how Rodney got turned into a bunny, because that's not the challenge.

[miera c]:

Maybe it is illogical to object to this. Maybe there is no rational defense for it, but not requiring permissions feels incredibly wrong to me. I'm willing to acknowledge that I have very strong feelings on privacy and permissions, so I'm utterly biased, but I do not believe this is the kind of behavior we should encourage between fans. Shouldn't we be trying to show more respect for one another? I don't mean that in a "Kumbayah can't we all just get along" way, either. There's no requirement that we like each other, but rewriting someone else's fic without their permission, even in a straightforward manner that doesn't change any fundamental plot points... that feels like a violation. I relinquish control of interpretation when I share a story, but I trust the rest of the fandom that no matter how people feel about the story, or about me, that no one is going to take one of my stories and reword/rewrite/remix it to their own specifications without at the least talking to me first.

I just can't agree to this. I can't see encouraging people not to respect each other as fellow fans.

[cesperanza]:

We're neither suggesting or limiting writers, and while permission is always polite, we don't believe it's mandatory. Crediting is mandatory--saying "This was inspired by" X is mandatory, because otherwise it's plagiarism (i.e. passing someone else's work off as your own). But other than that, if people rec your work or review it or whatever, you might not know that it's out there either, you know?

And people will gripe....period. Because this is the internet.

[debc]:

You know what? I've seen this comm mentioned enough times to think "well, maybe I should join. It looks like fun."

However, after reading the rules of this challenge, in particularly OPtion C, where you blatantly say you won't require people's permissions before their fics are remixed, I am 100% certain I won't ever be joining this comm.

And yes, I'm aware that I'm only person, and not as active in fandom as I used to be (but hey, I'm pregnant right now and sitting down to type lots of fic is harder these days than it used to be)... so I'm aware that my opinions on this matter can easily be disregarded by most. I'm not changing the world by having my say.

However, I am still going to have my say, and it's this: Asking permission to remix someone else's fanfic is the polite and correct to do. It fosters good community spirit amoung the fandom.

By making the permission-getting optional, this comm has done a very tactless, tacty, and impolite thing. Any comm that doesn't care about its fandoms authors enough to care about this, is no comm worth joining.

[kissingchaos9]:

Honestly, I feel like the original challenge was poorly worded, because I'm interpreting that "kind of a remix" was meant to convey the idea that you'd be using another person's fic as inspiration for a mission report. However, if you're interpreting it as "take another person's fic and totally rewrite it and definitely be shitty and rude about it, too," then it's understandable that you would be upset.

And on some levels, I do agree that permission should be required, but I also understand why it's not. You're basically writing a book report for someone else's fic, which leaves no margin for reinterpretation.

[snipped]

Although, I do believe that an opt-in would have been a lot more effective than an opt-out.

And I don't want to sound like I don't think an author's concern about theft or plagiarism are valid. I understand that completely, trust me. But, to me, inspiration is different. There are several really, really shitty stories floating around in other fandoms that claim to be "inspired" by one of my fics, and while I hate to see my name attached in any way to a shitty fic, there's nothing I can do when the idea of a character in leather pants is hardly one I can claim as mine and mine alone.

[phiremanston]:

I'm by no means a BNF in this fandom, nor do I think anyone would look into rewriting my fics, but...opting out, just in case.

I'm also putting my hand in with the small group of people saying they're uncomfortable with this. It was poor form to offer this challenge, especially since there's no option-out for those who don't read this community.

A lot of authors out there put up a note asking people to ask before they archive their fic; I would think the same would go for remixes and the like. It's common courtesy to make sure it's okay before you use someone else's work.

Basically, what you're saying, is that this is a free-for-all, and you don't need to show respect for the author's wishes.

Poor form indeed.

monanotlisa:

As a former mod of the largest BtVS/AtS Rec List with plenty of kerfuffles, I'm generally wary of discussions such as these because people tend to drag in leftover baggage from earlier grudges. Popular communities or lists, especially those run by the most well-known fans, are easy targets precisely because of their size and the diversity -- read: inequality -- of their members. Always a chance for one or the other fan to either start or at least promote a wankfest.

[daydreamer, who was the fan who requested the original challenge]:

I'd like to say first of all that if anyone wanted to do one of my fics (of which there aren't very many at the moment, none of which really work for the challenge), I'd just like to know about it beforehand.

ALSO, as the challenge inspirer (or whatever), it was NEVER my intention that people do this without permission - yes, remixing canon without permission from the writers and TPTB is what we do on a daily basis, but this is people's personal just-for-fun work and I don't think many of us are ready for the shock of seeing something we wrote touched by someone else without our permission. It's SO easy on LJ to get a message to an author and just check before you start writing, and I would strongly encourage everyone to do so. I'm sure that many, many authors (including me!) would be flattered by the request for some kind of remix, but you won't know until you ask. Please keep my happy internet playground a fun place for everyone! Gentle hands! Nice words! Don't eat the paint! Yes, I'm a preschool teacher.

[medie]:

I gotta say, the concept of the challenge is brilliant. I love it. But that bit with the opt out instead of opt in?

No way this is going to end well.

I really don't *mind* if people remix or write sequels to my stories (not that anyone ever would) but I have to say, the way this is being handled feels a bit like 'fuck you' to the writers. Not so much because hey we're all delicate flowers who can't possibly handle the idea of our work being played with (because really, the idea someone likes it that much? Is flattering as all hell) but because it's all "yeah, we don't give a shit what you think." in the wording.

You don't *have* to ask permission of people, true, but if people think that much of someone's work that they want to do something like this? Why not?

[nytel]:

Opt me out. And I have to say that I really don't like the idea of this challenge, but I suppose if others do and they want to do it, then that's great.

Fan Comments and Reactions: Elsewhere

The links and summaries below were compiled by metafandom. See Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006: Ownership Issues In Fanfiction. Some of these entries require a fan to be logged in.

alfirin_kirinki: ADMIN: Opt-OUT -- "Having thought about it, I'm opting out on principle. The only people who may use my fics are people I know personally in fandom, and even then only with express permission. On reflection, I'm pretty appalled by all of this.... But [some fans] haven't expressly said 'no' the way Anne Rice did, for example. If they said that, I would stop. I'd be disappointed, but I would respect their wishes - because they put the effort into creating it in the first place. However, we are looking at a fandom where fanfic is all but encouraged by the writers and even the cast (Chris and Michael?) and they appreciate that the fandom created through fanfiction does help to boost and maintain the popularity of the original tv show/book/film/what have you. Particularly in this genre. I made an analogy in my own journal about it being like someone bakes a cake for a party, and someone else takes that cake (if not in whole, then in part) to make a trifle for the same party. Sainsbury's may have sold the flour and eggs and belgian cooking chocolate (and got handsomely paid for it), but they knew people were going to make it into something else. When the person baked their cake, they did not expect someone to take it apart and use it for their own creation (and subsequently receive praise for something they created the basis for). I was ripped off in precisely this way in the HP fandom and the readers practically lynched the person who 'stole' the fic (he gleefully announced on the Y!Group for WtDBI what he was doing). I was deeply, deeply hurt because the person in question actually did it to re-write it so Harry and Draco got together (which at the time was the main tension point in the goddamn story!) suggesting it was my plot which was at fault. And a plot, in some circumstances, it pretty much the only part of the fic we do genuinely create as a writer. With Stackham, it's different for me, because I've really had to build up an entire background and characterisation to be able to write Pieces or any of the others - I have even more possessive pride in my work. That isn't to say I should have more rights to my fic than a McShepper or a Sparky, but that I am more emotionally invested in it than people might necessarily imagine and it would be a really, really big deal for me if someone fucked with it. The specific point that I am appalled by, is that it was ever stated that writers could take others' stories without permission, as if the issue was in some way the mods' to decide. Common courtesy and consideration for the feelings of others - especially when you live in the same fandom neigbourhood - should not be optional. They should be something we all treat as essential. Whether someone thinks a person has a 'right' to be upset by someone taking their work, the simple fact is, they might be - and it is that which should motivate people."

ingridmatthews: Fandom: Yu B Sew Dum — "Fanfic authors have always had a special relationship with other fanfic authors in regard to the proprietary rights to their "universes". It's been an unspoken pact for thirty years that you 'ask first' before doing *anything* to another author's work—archive it, post it elsewhere, and yes, write "fanfic" of it."

etben: *rubs pennies together* — "No, I don't think that writers should remix someone's fic without permission, be it specific permission or a blanket 'hey, go ahead and stir it up, y'all!' notice. I also don't think that they would. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe I'm projecting my own paranoia and fear of stepping on fannish toes on to the rest of the world - but I really don't think so. In my experience, at least, fandom is a really nice place, full of people who want to get along, and who take steps to avoid pissing each other off. We seem, by and large, to be pretty good with that whole 'common courtesy' thing."

fairestcat: Über-unpopular Fannish Opinion of the Day — "They require credit, but not permission. But then they've backpedaled and offered a loophole for people to request their fic be held to a different standard then is the declared position of the community. And that's where things get fuzzy, because if you truly believe permission is not required, then why offer authors the option of pre-emptively refusing permission? It gives the impression that they are not 100% behind the stand they've taken, and changes the focus of the debate from whether or not permission is necessary to whether or not permission should be the assumed default."

misspamela: Quick link about the wank — "On one hand, the challenge was poorly worded. (In the sense of being unclear.) I also believe strongly that the polite thing to do is to ask permission before using someone else's work. On the other hand, it's polite to say "excuse me" when you bump into someone, but if someone doesn't, you wouldn't turn around and say, "You didn't say 'excuse me,' asshole!"."

amireal: quick flashfic thoughts — "I fear, heartily fear that someone will spear me with a spork with some re-rendition of my fic. I will feel bad and need cuddles and make someone write me porn. I may cry 'fowl!' in private, but mostly for irrational authorial reasons. I fear someone will show me for the hack that I am and I will curl up into a little ball and never have another inspirational thought again. I fear someone ELSE will overreact and the fun community will get hammered."

cedara: SGA fanfic writers watch out! — "It is bad for fandom if someone who is a moderator of a big community chooses to allow their members to forgo all unwritten rules of behaviour by allowing someone else to use someone a third person's fanfic for anything without asking their permission. If anyone did that with anything I wrote, I will publicly declare them plagiarists. Even if you may not agree, it still is a form of abuse. Fanfiction operates in a gray area, do not ruin this space we have made for ourselves by insulting other fen, neither with words nor with deeds."

wickedwords: A little personal fannish history — "The thing is, arguing in this way with the re-use of fannish stories as primary source, kept life in the fandom. 'Fanon' is an outgrowth of this, and love it or hate it, it is a part of who we are. In The Sentinel, someone wrote the first story where there is a basket for mail and keys by the front door; then another fan appropriated it for their own story, and so on from there. At some level, fandom is a large shared universe, where we pick up ideas and thoughts from each other as well as the episodes we watch, and feed it back into this created vision that we share."

thelastgoodname: On courtesy, community, and creativity — "But this is the regular problem in creative fandom: are we primarily a community, or are we primarily creators? If it's former, then yes, respect matters; respect for the community, the members of the community, and for the community's standards, is possibly the most important thing that matters. But if we're a bunch of people making neat stuff — and we care about good grammar and proper citations and stylistic issues — then you don't need to ask permission (but you should always cite)."

lightgetsin: On courtesy, community, and creativity — "So okay, we’re a community, and we have rules. One of which is that it’s polite to ask. I’m totally fine with that, but I would like to point out that it implies a few interesting things. Like that it is necessary to be polite to community members, but perfectly acceptable to be rude by this definition to non-members – pro authors. We are nice to our friends but rude to strangers, because strangers can sue us if they really want, but we’ve got to live with our friends every day."

dracostella: Why must an author ask for permission? — "If specifically asked, I am certain that most of the creators and writers of SGA would not explicitly give permission to the works are written based on their writing. So, what makes fan fiction different? Is it because there is a good possibility that a writer of fan fiction will actually respond to an inquiry? Is it a matter of accessibility? Accessibility as in that a fan fiction writer will more likely say "yes" or "no", where as someone like J.K. Rowling will simply never respond?"

tacky_tramp: I violated your MOM's copyright last night!!! — "There's one thing I'm not confused at all about, though. If you write copyright-infringing fanfic, you absolutely do not get to bitch about people creating derivative works based on the things you've written. If they plagiarize? Hang 'em out to dry. But if they say, "This fic is a reworking of tacky_tramp's fic titled 'Refusal', which I liked but was inspired to tweak and retell from a different point of view," and if I then unleash my own self-righteous cease-and-desist on them, I am a plain old, garden-variety, no-excuse-sir hypocrite."

seimaisin: fandom community — "In short, why wouldn't you want to ask someone's permission to remix their story? Unless, of course, you planned to do something they wouldn't like, or unless you think they wouldn't give permission? That's really the heart of it, to me."

marythefan: 11 cents on the sga flashfic wankery — "This is not one of those "It doesn't matter because it's all plagiarism" arguments, because it's NOT plagiarism, in either case. It's also not stealing. It's NOT like someone took your cake and made trifle out of it and served it up to everybody as their own. Nobody took your cake. Your cake is still there. No one's done anything to your original story, which people are still free to go read."

carolyn_claire: Hey, here's something new... — "The flashfic challenge idea was simply to re-imagine another writer's story from a different point of view. The issue under discussion there, and here, really, is permission--is it what we do? Is it something that can or should change? Has it already changed? And are we all just a bunch of filthy plagiarists*, anyway?."

cathexys: source texts for derivative works: dichotomy or continuum? — "The underlying philosophical argument, however, that affects both sides of the debate, is whether the process of using tv shows etc as our source for derivative fanworks is comparable to using other fan works."

reginabellatrix: what a way to start the afternoon — "I have to agree with those who said that the challenge's original lack of permission requirements would have set some very bad precedent in fandom for how authors interact with one another. Even if it had been confined to the stories posted in the community, I think it would have been bad precedent, though obviously not as much of an affront to the social norms of fandom."

oceana_: SGA Wank — "What I do care about is courtesy. And since common courtesy is so rare these days, it is my personal opinion that it should have been made mandatory in a flashfic challenge in such a large fandom. Not doing so it just asking for the wank (which could have been the whole point, for all I know)."

meinos: of course one of my fandoms had to go to hell — "Someone, somewhere, actually said something to the effect of, 'anyone who would have the wrong interpretation of a fic is the same kind of person who wouldn't even think to ask for permission to use it.' I mean to say, what?! I thought that one of the big things about fandom was interpreting what we're given in whatever way makes us happy. That's what we do with the canon -- why should the fan works be any different?"

lydiabell: if using other people's stories is immoral, what are we doing here? — "I think there's a lot to be said for not rubbing in someone's face that you've made derivative art from their art in a way that they are uncomfortable with. This is one of the reasons I don't like slash (or, really, fanfic in general) being brought up with actors or writers at cons."

zvi_likes_tv: Permission for responding to fanfic in fanfic form — "My basic feeling on this issue is, 'Things which allow people to write more fic are good, things which prevent people from writing fic are bad. Asking for permission to write fan-fanac potentially stops people from writing it (if the primary fan author doesn't give permission), so asking for permission is bad. None of the arguments as to why it would be good to stop people from writing fic make sense to me.'"