I don't know how to react to my opponent forfeiting, so I'll continue my argument as usual.
History of Fan-Fictions:
Fan-fictions existed longer than most people thought. Works of others being adapted to other's taste and preferred settings. While not called fan-fiction, one of the earliest famous fan-fictions belong to the William Shakespeare. Turns out famous works of his are actually adaptations of earlier plays. Examples include: Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, A Winter's Tale and more.
Modern fan-fiction began around the 1960's, when the Star Trek fandom reached its height and gained worldwide attention. It is also when the term 'Fan-Fiction' was first coined. At first called fanzines, these early fan-fictions led to the creation of the first Mary Sue, whom is ironically called Mary Sue. In fact, her name is what inspired the naming of a certain type of character that exists in literature and is the foundation of what is a Mary Sue.
With the creation of the World Wide Web, fan-fictions began to spread all over the world, and has led to more and more of the general public coming into contact with fan-fictions.
Now, on to the point of this round. The reason why fan-fictions has become somewhat despised or looked down upon by the general public is due to its content. Fan-fiction is the creation of fan-related content of a certain work by said work's fans, or fandom. The problem here is the fandom. You see, there is no criteria to keep fan-fiction writers in check. A fan-fiction writer could be of any age, of any standard of education, and any level of maturity. This can lead to the creation of some rather odd fan-fictions, due to the level of maturity a creator could have. The creation of fan-fiction from many children to teenager-oriented works (such as My Little Pony, certain video games, various anime) will result in rather poorly made, poorly structured and badly written fan works. Granted there are good works of fan-fiction out there, but the number of bad fan-fiction is overwhelming to the point it drowns out the odd good fan work and results in the general public coming into contact with the bad side of fan-fiction.
Another reason why there are 'bad' fan-fiction is due to the reasons of writing it. Some fans of a certain work write fan-fiction due to a multitude of factors. Some want to expand the universe said work is created in. Others want to further write spinoffs regarding certain minor characters in order to flesh them out and make them more unique. However, many fan works are created due to the need of self-inserting or their distaste of the work itself. Self-inserting is the act of the author inserting themselves into the work, replacing the actual main character or creating their own OC to fit their agenda or to fulfil their desire to be included in the work. The other case is that fans did not like the way the work was displayed and wanted to take matters into their own hands. Both situations lead to the creation of poorly made fan work. Like I said before there could be properly created fan work within the bunch, it is just that there is too much bad fan work for people to dig through to find the good one.
This has led to the stigmatism of fan-fiction from general society who believe that the term fan-fiction must mean work that definitely contains a Mary Sue, is poorly written and is riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies.
In short, it is the massive amounts of bad quality fan-fiction that people come into contact with that results in the detesting of fan-fiction as a whole, even if there is a considerable amount of fan-fiction that could be likable to the general public. It is just that it is buried undr a mountain heap of revolting, disgusting, immature and poorly made fan work that turns down people from digging thorough it to find the good ones.
In my next round, if my opponent does not forfeit, I will continue to argument 2 (see round 1 argument) and conclude my argument. I hope my opponent does not forfeit himself again and wish to have an intellectual and meaningful dialogue with him.
I now pass the floor to ScoutMaster25.
The producers of fanfiction get something out of it, and somewhat more rarely other people get something out of reading it. That's really all that matters, right? They get to have "more" out of a series, explore it to such a depth that the actual thing wouldn't touch on, because the actual thing is just written by a few (probably rather unimaginative) guys oftentimes who are doing it more for the money than to have fun, and because they're obviously time-constrained in how much content they can include in their work.
Fanfiction means popular participation in a franchise, which can make it much richer, if only in a superficial way (since any resulting work is going to be non-canon). I've been writing a rather lengthy fanfiction series for close to 4 years now, which has branched off quite considerably from the actual work. The person who's gotten the most out of the project has obviously been myself, and that's why I've kept writing even though I've gotten terribly few reviews on any of it these past few years. It's a highly enjoyable exercise, and that's why I do it. Even if objectively my work isn't very good, I am satisfied with what I've accomplished. I'm sure most dedicated writers of such feel the same way. It was never supposed to be a professional endeavor and there's no reason why I or anyone else who writes fanfics should be held to that standard of quality.
Now, mind you, some people (I presume mainly of the female variety) write fanfics basically as an aide for *ahem* certain self-pleasuring activities. Most notably there's the woman who wrote "Fifty Shades of Grey" (which started out as a Twilight fanfic). These works tend to be extremely erotic (and usually homosexual), which is what most people unfamiliar with the pastime think of when they think of fanfiction. But the full range of the fans' creativity can be so incredibly diverse as to capture virtually every imaginable genre or category. Eroticism is just one part of that.
Even if he does respond, anything other than a concession will be dismissed by judges.
I don't think he will answer. He's forfeiting his rounds. I expect him to forfeit this last round as well. I'm disappointed to say the least.
I suggest you use more definite terms. What is "bad"? Do you think that fan-fiction writers should stop making fan-fiction? Do you think that they should get legally prosecuted? "Bad" is a really vague term.
i think I got a good argument
This is an interesting topic, but I won't accept because can't think of any good arguments that fanfiction is always a bad thing. Especially considering that The Aeneid, Foe, Wide Sargasso Sea, and other works of great literature are fanfics.
Read HPMOR. The fact of the matter is that good fanfiction exists. Bad normal fiction exists too, but it doesn't get published as often, so you don't hear about it.
I can envision some good arguments for and against.
For fan fiction, Steven Moffat wrote Doctor Who fan fiction before going on to writing the actual show; and Max Landis' fan fiction ending to Wonder Woman was far superior to what we actually got (still a great movie).
Against fan fiction, the majority of fan fiction is really bad, and then a good deal just is terrible... Let us not forget that Mary Sue originated in fan fiction, before she went on to damage so many beloved series (joke, she would have existed even if not named).
I hope the instigator will document the stigmatization of fan-fic because my experience is opposite.