lilfluff

I'll put my view short and sweet. The only damage I can see that fanfic has ever done to a published author or publisher is damage done not by the fanfic but by the author and/or publisher's reaction to it.

As for those who call it theft. Fine. Show me the novel sent back to the publisher because, "Some darn fanfic author went and wrote a fanfic and all the ink evaporated off the original book's pages." Show me the police report about the damage done to the author's front door when the fanfic author sat down to write and spectral thugs kicked in the door and started carrying off the author's notebooks. What? No such evidence? Well... Dang. Maybe you should start using a different word than theft. I mean, even the RIAA and MPAA are kinda-sorta thinking of abandoning the term piracy to describe the activities they complain of.

Expansion: Attacking fanfic is also self-destructive behavior in my opinion. There are the people who will watch your show's original broadcasts or buy the book in hardcover release. There are the people who will watch the reruns and buy the paperbacks. These are the people who will lend a copy of the first book in a series to friends, getting them to go out and start buying them as well. You know, you've got a word for them, customers. You've got a word for what you gain from them, money or profits.