FairySlayer

Heh, you're right on about the first point. Some people just like to find conspiracies even when they don't exist, yet sadly there are enough isolated incidents for these people to point to that they can make broader accusations or, er, "ask important questions" about stuff. Worse, when true cover-ups come to light these folks can go into a frenzy. Not a totally bad thing unless they take it to Candace levels. Yes! "Payback's a Pussy" was one of my favorite stories to write and still makes me laugh. (Okay, to some people that would be a bad sign.) "Cakewalk on the Catwalk" was pretty close too, so Okay, now is the time to get something to drink or whatever before slamming into my wall of text, espousing the wonders of my Transylvanian robot girl voice whom I call "Darlacula" (or just "Darla" for short). The text-to-speech (TTS) thing, yes, there are several good reasons that work for me: The biggest benefit is that I can do it while commuting or going for long walks. I'd rather get the exercise than use public transportation, and I try to walk 6½ to 10 miles a night (when weather and health permit it). Walking is about the only exercise I can do these days so it's very important to me. Having a matchbox-sized device with 40-50 hours of podcasts and fanfics on it means I won't get bored or feel like I'm wasting a few hours when I go. Better yet, this is all without the whole entire Internet staring at me from (at least) two screens, begging me to procrastinate. I get to concentrate on the story, fully. Also, if I'm listening to something I really enjoy that will encourage me to maybe make and extra lap or two, a few more miles. Sure, my eyes have never been happy reading straight-through on monitors for long periods unless, for some reason, I'm proofreading. In the past few years my vision has gotten worse, but nothing that glasses can't mostly fix. I can feign-proofread some stories unless the mechanics or formatting are horrible, and since we're talking fanfiction... (Now when I proofread for real though, a follow-up with TTS is amazing at finding all of the typos, etc. It's literally cringe-inducing to hear that stuff! Even after two people make several passes it still finds problems.) Now, the whole proofreading issue versus reading books and computer screens seemed to be that I was a slow reader. However, after tuning my TTS to 191 words per minute I realized that I was reading way too quickly basically just running my eyes over the words. I had to keep re-reading everything because my brain didn't have time to absorb anything. DUH-ME. It seems 191 is on the high-side of perfect, letting me get the full meaning of the story and its details while helping me keep up a decent walking rate. An exaggerated pitch-boost setting is like an extra crack of the whip too. It's also taught me to slow down when I'm reading for real, which has been a big help. Funny how that stuff happens. Oh, and if there were ever interest in offering my own stories as MP3s, my software is compatible with a markup language that's amenable to "dramatic readings" ... kind'a. Here is one example clip (2:30 - 879Kb), but you have to scroll down to find the free ("Slow") download option and uncheck the box to let it use its own download manager (probably not outright malware but not something you'd want to install anyway). Heh, if only I could write this much for an actual story every night! Anyway, thanks again and take care.

re: "A Slick Tradition" Thanks. Too bad they can't use it in the recruitment media. Then again, there's at least one group that accuses the Girl Scouts (or a subgroup) of strongly promoting lesbianism. I'd add "believe it or not" except that it really isn't so surprising. Since it was for one of the weekly challenges I felt that a description was necessary, even if it reduced the amount of action I could include in a thousand words or less. I did eventually clean up and expand it a little, though the one here is the original since updating it would be unfair. Still, the soul of it is here. Gretchen is such a cutie that I couldn't help but use her. Also, I studied their patches quite a bit to figure out the likely pecking order. I'm still not sure why Holly's major patches are in a different order than the other girls' (triangle above circle) but oh well. I don't want to get too caught up in any head canon. BTW, I listened to your "Truth or Dare 2.0" last night but had accidentally forgot to include parts 3-5, so that's now encoded and on my player. With any luck I'll get to hear the rest of that lovely story tonight. (Good thing I double-checked before posting my comments!)

re: "The Dark Side of the Bright Side" Thanks. And while there were a few cameos hidden in there, that wasn't one of them. Oops, I should have just said 'yes' but that wouldn't be fair. Oh well. However there was one Nickelodeon character, one Disney, and a nod to my editor (who doesn't have a funny-shaped head).

Thank you.

Category name: Gravity Falls Section category to be in: Cartoon > G through L Do you have any stories for it?: Yes. One finished and one in progress. Many lemons for it have been appearing on FFN, so hopefully we'll get the (adult) refugees to post their GF stories here too. Thank you.

Geez, if I'd known that I would've kept my reviews under wraps until you started this thread.

Heh, I reviewed the list and even read that one before posting. I don't even remember the last time I had to log into the archive because it's been so long IIRC. (No center login box showed up today.) Thanks for knocking out the non-login review.

I don't know if this was related to the outage or not, and I can't find a support topic for it already. However maybe it'd be a good idea to have everyone log out of The Archive then log back in again, even if it states that they're already logged in: I was trying to post a review for "Strawberry's Berry Special Summer" and The Archive demanded that I enter a Name and Email. I was in a story screen and selected "Login" from "MEMBER TOOLS" – it brought me to my profile page and already said "Welcome back Fairy-Slayer." I could get into my control panel, etc. However when I went to review the story again, same issue. I decided to post it anyway because I'd been waiting so long to do it. Of course only then did I think to log out of The Archive and back in again. DUH-ME. This time it showed my name and e-mail from before so I dropped the same review in again, wondering if it really remembered me or not. It showed the same information I'd put in before, but this time it worked. BTW, could someone please delete the first (non-linked) copy of my review? Obviously I'd prefer the one attached to my account to be the one left there.

"Delicate Blue" The up and down (collapse and expand) arrows appear just about instantly when the mouse cursor is over them; same with the Xs and ...s on the side bar. I'm surprised I never had the mouse resting on one of those bars while reading the side panel because then it would be within inches of where I was looking. But again, I kind of fell off the face of the forum before it was upgraded, so maybe not so surprising. I keep my browser (and most other) windows narrower than the screen, but tunnel vision sets in quickly when I'm trying to use the verbal part of my brain. Then the thing to eliminate the side bar appears at the top (very translucent until the mouse is right on it) to completely close the side bar. (It leaves a small translucent tab next to the bar for the top section ["Please Read"] to restore it). (This is two screencaps spliced together. The arrow is visible only when the mouse cursor is on the bar, showing for a split second even if just moving across it.) I think it's all working fine - the forum software is working as designed. My brain is still just off. I'll just try to play with hovering the mouse over different things on the different kinds of forum pages (main, forum, subforum, topic, profile, dot dot dot dot dot...)

Yeah, I should have posted in rants instead, especially since I barely use the forums anymore. It wasn't supposed to be confrontational (late night brain sigh) but yes the title is poorly worded ("Something I've Always Disliked" is what I meant, even if it's not that much better). I am sorry that it did come across that way. Ideally I would have just asked about it in Shoutbox when you ladies were around. I don't have a '-' with each section but if the mouse cursor hovers over on then an arrow appears (up to close, down to re-open - probably to do with skin???). They do pop up when I'm scrolling (usually wheel mouse) but if I'm looking at the left (titles) my mind misses them. More of a me problem when I'm focusing. (Otherwise peripheral vision is pretty good.) Thanks.

I'm not angry and will accept that there will likely be no change, but this has bugged me since I signed up on the forums. It's always annoyed me that a forum dedicated to fanfic would have the actual forms for fanfiction at the very bottom of the main page instead of at the top. That's the main reason for being here, right? Why do we bury the lede, and so very, very deep? Again, the very bottom! I suspect that when some newbies come to the forums and start scrolling down several screenfuls about the archive maintenance and cleanup (then even games and roleplay get higher billing than Fan Fiction) – well, they give up and go away. Heck, the barely-used Art Room is given more importance than the fanfiction "meat." And even Aimless Babble ranks higher? I have no evidence and there's no way to poll, but I'm sure it's turned a lot of potential forum members off. Now, just a little extra: The User bar, banner, toolbar, and especially "Important Things To Read" probably take up more than half a screenful for most people too. (More than two-thirds of my 1080p with small fonts.) Seriously, the ITTR really needs to be consolidated big-time, perhaps multiple columns and less lines spacing... but actually, it really does all fall under site announcements anyway. Regardless, it could easily be on one line. Not sure how much we can do with the wasted space on the logo bar, but if Search can go there then can we also put the user-bar (Messenger, Notifications, etc.) in there too? Oh! And that's with the "Shoutbox shows on every page" option disabled. (I think it's on by default.) To me it seems that the forums are arranged to be mostly about The Archive and the Forums themselves than discussing Fan Fiction. It'd be great to see a compact top with "Please Read!" (as rules and instructions really do need to take top billing) and then the Fan Fiction section immediately after that. So there's my opinion. I can already imagine at least fifty of the responses, reasons why it should or even needs to be this way. I probably won't read them because I don't want to get stuck in a bunch of arguments, and I'm sure some replies will just make me needlessly irritated anyway. But if it comes to mind the next time you reorganized the categories, then that's a start.

In Firefox 3.0 and 8.0 at least, no matter which click I use it does the whole animated thing to show the image; then I can right or wheel click on the viewer's "save" button to open it in a new window. It's been that way for a long time now but until recently there was no real need for me to view images on the forums. So for getting the images into a new tab it just takes to much time to get to where I can do that, IMO. Getting out of the image viewer has never been a problem: I just never want to get into it in the first place. I'm pretty sure that IPboard, in its infinite wisdom, did all this intentionally (trapping all clicks instead of just the left/primary), but I was hoping there was an admin option to give users the option to not use the image viewer. At all. Ever. If not then no worries. The forum works well (actually much better) with JS blocked, and I can always temporarily enable it if I want to use the Shoutbox. It's not like I've been particularly active here either. ...

The thing drives me nuts. I was reading one thread with five or six pictures in a row, and no matter how I clicked on them (right, to try "open in new tab") or middle/wheel (open in new tab) instead it takes its time animating drawing a box on the screen; then it takes a few seconds to darken everything around it and show the image.. then another second or two for the animation that finally displays the save and close options. So it takes me a minimum of five seconds before I can actually open the image in a new tab (in full size too, if the pop-up viewer resized it). Every other forum I use, whether or not it has an inline viewer for left clicks, will let users bypass with right or middle click. The way it is now keeps stopping me dead in my tracks every time I need to see these images. I should be able to click them into new tabs while continuing to read. So far the only workaround is to disable JavaScript for the forums, but then I'll have to specifically allow every subdomain on The Archive. I know IPboard unilaterally removed the non-RTE interface options, so if this is yet another one of their arrogant decisions, then oh well. If anyone can recommend a Firefox addon that forbids sites from intercepting right-clicks then I'd be happy to install that.

re: "Candy, Little Girl" Perry's a great pet. With any luck I'll get back to writing more. It's been way too long.

re: "My Absolute Mostest Horriblest Day EVER!," as told by Pinkie Pie There's nothing Spike wouldn't do to protect his mother figure (even if they act like siblings sometimes). gRiMdark through Pinkie Pie's words seemed like too good an idea to ignore.

re: "Confound Those Cutie Marks" The idea of erogenous cutie marks came up during one of TwilightFlopple's discussions and I ran with it. Twilight Sparkle is better off learning the facts of life from a good friend and experienced mare. Sweetie Belle was there because, well, there always needs to be a tweest!

re: "Diamond Takes it Rough" Thanks. Revenge was my main focus, so tough little Scootaloo doing the abuse seemed like the right way to go. But now somepony will have to help Diamond Tiara with her PTSD. Still, it could have been much worse for her... Sweetie Belle: Now I think you have to stand still so I can hit you. Now, do I use my forehooves first or should I try a rear kick? Well, when I tried to help apple-buck I didn't do so good, and Rarity will kill me if I mess up my pedicure... (*She thrusts her horn into Diamond Tiara's chest!*) Okay, now don't do it again, okay? ... Okay? Why aren't you answering me! I've been hoping to write a follow-up, pretty much along what you're saying, but my muse must have fallen off a cliff or something back in June. I've been dead in the water for months now, but I do keep notes when stuff comes to mind. Thanks for the feedback.

Thank you. Yesterday I realized there's a J2S story I forgot ( ) to post last year... but it's actually going in crossovers anyway.

I was just paging though my old stuff and saw that Jimmy Two-Shoes stories are under Jimmy Two-Shares. Actually, that would make an interesting title for a three-way story. (I tried to find the thread where the category was requested, but no luck so that's why I made this new thread.) No big, but when you get a chance...

re: "Fairly FlawedParents" (reviews), which was written a looooong time ago. You're too kind: I can't imagine that this story is anywhere as good as yours considering the number of hits, votes and especially comments your work gets in very short time compared to this. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, and the thanks are much appreciated.

re: "Candy, Little Girl" Seeing four reviews suddenly pop up together in just over a week was a more than pleasant surprise. Is there renewed interest because of the movie? Because the PaF section was added? Either way: Sorry for the late replies, but the last six days have been a bit off for me. Oddly enough, I've been thinking more and more about this story in the past several weeks, wondering if I can avoid jumping the shark in the next part Okay, I'll give it a shot soon. Thanks, and neither can I. ^_^' Thanks for that lift (and my ego especially thanks you). Yeah, Lawrence seems like he lives in another world sometimes. I'm glad you got a laugh at the "Rape Kit" because no one else mentioned it: it's a real Doof thing to do, and keeping them in-character (despite the few changes) makes it more enjoyable for me too. Glad to hear the story is captivating, to say the least. Besides being on the pony bandwagon for a few months (or more?) I've been putting off chapter 7 because there was a big bump, but as above the story has been calling out to me recently. I need a remote-controlled Suzy to type it up five different ways for me, but Lawrence snatched her up already. By the way, if you want a little Fireside Girl femslash moresome check out "A Slick Tradition" (one of the weekly challenges). Hmm, that reminds me that I need to put up the extended version too. (The limit was a thousand words, but the fifteen-hundred word version is a bit better.) Well, the next chapter's pairing is a bit ... odd, but it should be quite delicious. Now why didn't the forum notify me of your post? Haf'ta check the Follow settings. Everyone, thanks again for the encouragement!