The Stage Analogy is an oft-cited comparison of badfic to stage performance. Specifically, in the FAQ: For Other People, it goes like this: First of all, whenever you post a story for the WORLD to read, you open your work up to criticism. That's the flip side of free speech: if the Suethor can write whatever she wants in her "very own story", then we have the right to say whatever we wish about it. ... Why are we mean for saying that it stinks?