I like to think that our crew has come a little beyond judging people by
their appearances. The "she has to prove herself to be one of the guys" stuff
has been done and done and done with women characters, and I'm simply not
going to do it again, especially with this character.

I don't have a problem with Cindy having a problem with a character (even
though she's in the minority here). The ONLY and I repeat ONLY thing that's
bothered me is the constant death-of-Laurel stuff, which I'm starting to find
distasteful. If someone comes on here, and storms off in a rage, saying she
found a message "hurtful" because she thought it was personal, and takes
people to task for it, and then turns right around and takes after someone
else, consistently, in a very personal fashion, should either a) be more
willing to accept same oneself, or b) not be doing so.

It's easy to forget, on a BBS, that we're talking to people. That was
Cindy's problem in part, she felt (if I can presume to interpret for a moment)
that I'd forgotten that I was talking to a person, rather than just writing
words. Fair enough. It's equally possible to forget that performers are not
just phosphor-dots on a screen, but real people.

Look, here's my bottom line: I don't have a WORD to say about anyone
criticizing anything about this show, my writing, my cast, the EFX, ANYthing,
as long as it's constructive and not just attacking for the sake of attacking.
And I'll even let THAT slide for a time. The only thing that I have asked is
for a little sensitivity and proportion equal in amount to that which was
asked of me and others. To speculate gleefully about someone's demise, and to
portray an actor's work in what amounts to a destructive and hurtful fashion,
is not pleasant to witness, especially having worked with that performer for
over a month, having seen her stay past midnight working to get a scene
exactly right.

It had just gone over the top, and was getting ugly in here, and I felt I
had to respond. Neither am I going to change the shape of my show because one
person thinks a character is too good looking. Cindy went ballistic because I
said the idea of that was "dopey." She said that it was tantamount to calling
her dopey, that it's one and the same. So what then is she saying of Tamlyn
in HER messages?

This is an open forum for constructive and frank discussion of Babylon
5. It is not a place to sit there safe behind one's keyboard and snipe, over
and over and over. I let it slide the first half-dozen or so times. I'm not
letting it slide anymore. Either we are adults, or we're here to name-call
and be "fannish" in the worst sens of the word, and I happen to think that
this crowd in particular is a hell of a lot better than that, and that
INCLUDES Cindy. Throughout this process, from November on to now, a year
later, we've had consistently wonderful and constructive conversations. I'd
like to keep it that way. Because I have no desire to participate in anything
less.

I hate to come off sounding hard-assed about it, but that's how i feel.
You're responding strongly to Cindy's comments and position because you've met
her; I'm on the opposite side, but in the same position. All I'm asking is
for proportion here, and some sensitivity to the fact that we are talking
about real people, and there's no need for sniping along these lines. Let's
keep it constructive and specific.

jms