First off, infinitlight, everything you've just said about fanfic is absolutely charming and lovely, and i couldn't agree more. for all of the reasons you've highlighted, fanfic has been a fulfilling and fabulous source of interest and entertainment for me for years, and frankly, i feel i would be a significantly different person, conceptually, were it not for fanfic. and reading what you have to say makes me wonder (delightedly) how many others could say the same.

Even when stories like this don't work for me, I respect the writer for trying to do something new

i think this is the camp i fall into. i read this fic a while ago, and i'm not sure if i'll reread it so as to be able to discuss it properly, because while it tickled me, it didn't thrill me. i tend to be much more sensitive to the absurdity and clumsiness of humor than to it's complexities and charms. even so, i feel that fics like this are a more profound testament to how solid and prescient fandom and fanfic is/are than is commonly recognized.

the simple fact of the existence of fics like this indicates how vital, creative, divergent, and expansive fandom is. if straight-up meta is the history and science of fandom, then meta-fiction strikes me as being fandom's philosophy. and is awesome. *g*