I really do appreciate what you're all saying here and I'm going to make a concentrated effort to put it into effect, I just miss being able to discuss my favorite characters or their arcs without having to go through agrandizing hoops to qualify that I don't mean "epilogues" onwards, which is by and large taken as the "official" continuation, given it was an outline penned by Hussie.

It doesn't help that even a website like this, which is meant to just be a fan thing, features "teasers" from the Epilogues compliant events. Putting Dirk's name into the website has meta discussions about him, same for everyone else. It's just inescapable.

I've tried writing fanfic before, but I wind up sad because it doesn't feel like it'll ever hold a candle to what everyone considers the "true" continuation. As much as you might say it's not a majority of the fan space that likes or engages with Epilogues onwards, I find that the only place that doesn't is the HS Reddit Discord and that place is just depressing to be in for other reasons.