Excellent points, Night Nymph. There are degrees of A/U. Something that, as you say, sticks to canon is still likely to be a good read. I have seen some of the Buffy ones, and there are some cool stories out there that are A/U. One Buffy author in particular comes to mind, and her stuff is written respectfully, with the same flavor Joss gave the original concept.
What really pisses me off is the stuff that has no resemblance whatever to the original work. I can see why some authors of the original stuff don't let FF get published. To me, it's all about respect.
