I've often considered writing a rant on this subject, though mine would veer more toward the outright copyright infringement of fen: charging $$ for self-made copies of episodes; copying published articles and then posting the complete text of these articles to mailing lists thereby taking away the publications' chance of making any $$ off of their, well, product, etc. I don't think there's anything essentially Libertarian about ripping off other people, and when those other people are creative people who are trying to make a living with their creativity, it is appallingly self-absorbed to come up with far-fetched political reasons as to why it is acceptable to rip them off simply to make one's conscience clearer. Frankly, it's bullshit.

Looking back on those "discussions" I had, I've come to two conclusions. The mere fact that the most reliable -- meaning I could pretty much rely on this as first salvo -- response was, "What right do you have to say anything when you write fanfiction, which is against copyright laws?" is incredibly telling. When you don't really have a leg to stand on, you go after the accuser. Trouble is, that response doesn't mean anything. I'm not charging people for my fanfiction, nor am I preventing anyone from making money at their chosen creative endeavor by writing fanfiction. It's a false comparison. Here's a comparison: I defy anyone to point to a fan who never watched a particular episode because of a story I wrote. That is, in essence, what happens when you post the entire text of an article from a magazine (that is for sale) to a public forum, for public consumption. You have taken away potential sales of said magazine.

My second conclusion is that there are a vast number of people in fen (and in the human race) for whom ethics and honesty will always take a back seat to greed and MeMeMe behavior. Sad, but true, and certainly no surprise to you, either. Remember, I'm of the middle years. Seen it all a million times by now. Back to Arduinna, with --