I think pretty much the only value rant communities had for me was building to the realization that I will never please all of the people all of the time, so I might as well write to please myself. And that's a lucky lesson to tease out when you're more likely to come away despairing that you're ever going to please anybody.

Also, I really don't get the level of vitriol directed at Mary Sues on rant communities (or used to be, at least; I don't follow any now). I remember writing my own pretty fondly, and while I sometimes get annoyed sifting through gobs of *~mysterious news girls~* to find something I want to read, I am all kinds of put off by people who find them cause for frothing rage. I just... how do you get that worked up about someone else doing wish fulfillment "wrong"?