The Last Straw (Mercedes Lackey's rant)

The Last Straw was a rant (Lackey's own description) that was cross-posted to several mailing lists by Matt Roberds at Lackey's request. The rant was created in response to her allegedly receiving death threats. See Lackey the Con Attendee. 
A fan in 2002 told Lackey: "Heyla! [...] I enjoyed that, by the way, as well as Camel's Back - I've never seen such raw anger on my screen before" scroll down: , accessed September 26, 2016 
Matt Roberds, who posted the rant on behalf of Lackey, wrote in the intro to alt.pagan: "I have known Mercedes Lackey for about a year, and her husband Larry for about two years. Since Mercedes does not have direct Internet access, she has asked me to post the following message here". Mercedes Lackey: "The Last Straw" (February 11, 1997) See Who is Matt Roberds?.
==Five Months Later at Dragon*Con==
This essay preceded the incidents at Dragon*Con by about five months where the topics of alleged poor fan behavior, stalkers, and general mayhem were revisited. See Mercedes Lackey - "The Dragoncon Report".
 
==Some Topics Lackey Discussed in Her Post==
* fans who take her writing too seriously, fans assuming her writing is based on reality
* conspiracy theories
* fans taking fandom too seriously
* cons
* writing for money, writing what sells
* trolls and stalkers
* fans are addressed as "cosmic cupcakes" and more
==Some Topics Discussed by Fans in Response== 
* a fan and close friend of Lackey's provides a gratuitous description and use of a small child's murderLeigh Strope, System Blamed for Death of Child in Custody Dispute. Tulsa World, October 27, 1993. to drive an unrelated point home: "Remember the two year old that ended up with a bullet through her head? Not a character in one of Misty's books. But a real world small child that lived under Misty & Larry's roof, played with their cats, pulled the tails of the parrots, and never hurt anyone in her life. A small child Misty and Larry tried to protect. Dead. Brains splattered all over the crib. Too graphic for you? You bet. True? You bet. And it could be you next."
* everyone has a bad day
* I wish I was a successful author who had problems
* no one gets to talk to me like that
* Lackey is a newbie on the 'net and doesn't know how to act
* the letter wasn't written by Lackey but by a troll
 
* this community actually doesn't belong to Lackey but to fans who are friends
* her post doesn't bother me because I know she is talking about other fans
* the appearance of Tal Greywolf: "Greywolf usually acts as Mercedes' "semi-official" presence on the newsgroup"
* lack of police reports, witnesses to the altercation with Pony White
* general disbelief
* conspiracy theories and paranoia
See Fan Comments for more.
==Who is Matt Roberds?==
The person who posted the rant on behalf of Lackey said: 
Several fans expressed their doubt that either Roberds was a real person/a troll and/or that Roberds was speaking for Lackey. Another fan said: 
Four days after the original post, Roberds addressed these doubters and wrote: 
==Excerpts from Lackey's Post==
While the entire essay is not posted below, the excerpts are indeed long. This is to illustrate the excessiveness of language and to give readers a feel for the flavor of this post. 
===Comments at the Firebird Site (1997)===
==Fan Comments==
===From Fans at alt.books.m-lackey (1997)===
Below are just a few comments from the 1253 comments posted beginning February 10, 1997 at Mercedes Lackey: The Last Straw, at alt.books.m-lackey.
 
===From Fans at alt.pagan (1997)===
The fans at alt.pagan hardly even discussed the rant. The comments there focused on two things. Briefly, did Mercedes Lackey really write the post? Then the conversation became an argument about the quality of female science fiction writers. 
See Mercedes Lackey: "The Last Straw".
===From Fans at rec.arts.sf.fandom (1999)===
The quotes below are from rec.arts.sf.fandom, specifically Pushy Pros (Was: What's important to (October 1999).
===From Fans at Lackey's Website (1999-2003)===
From "The World of Mercedes Lackey":
===From Fans at rec.arts.sf.fandom (2001)===
The comments below are from rec.arts.sf.fandom in a 2001 post titled Whatever happened to the Merc. Lackey stalkers.
 
===From Fans in Other Places===
==Comments by Lackey: "The Camel's Back" (1997)==
This short statement was posted in November 1997, and then reposted at her official website in 1999. See The Camel's Back: 
==Comments by Lackey: Official Website (2002)==
At her official website in 2002: 
== Meta and Related Posts==
* (June 30, 1997)
* , (June 24, 1997)
* Thoughts on the whole Mercedes Lackey thing (June 1997)
* Mercedes Lackey - "The Dragoncon Report" (July 1997)
* Pushy Pros and Plush Ones, comment by Laura Burchard (October 9, 1999)
==References==
Category:1997 Meta
Category:1997 Open Letters
Category:Mercedes Lackey
Category:Meta on Usenet
Category:Meta on Mailing Lists
Category:Paganism & Fandom