Mary Sue, of itsself *is* a pretty blanket term, but I know what you're talking about. I had a fic out (it's since been removed for revamping) that had an original character, who was NOTHING like me. Yes, every man fell at her feet, madly in love. But there was a REASON for that (she'd cast a charm on herself to make it that way) and it was a plot point. Igot a coupla flames for it, "That is SUCH an over done Mary Sue!!" "Why did you make it so that everyone fell in love with you?? This sucks! Didn't anyone tell you that Mary Sues are a bad thing?" and so on. The problem with that was that the whole story had been written and posted by that point, and the plot point had been revealed (not going to share why, since the story's almost ready to be re-released and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may wind up reading it somewhere). Anyway, the character WASN'T a Mary Sue, she just happened to use a characteristic of for a specific plot purpose. It irked me to no end that people thought immediately that she was. That's part of the reason the story is being revamped.
Of course, there ARE fics of mine that have every right to be called a Mary Sue. Hell, I say they are in the header, and they are almost ALWAYS there to poke fun at myself. Much as Scribe's Proverb Series (http://www.scribescribbles.com) pokes fun at Mary Sues in general, and her own in particular. However, those are intentional, and you're really reading them at your own risk.
Anyway, since I think i've gotten off the topic a bit (sorry), I agree with you that the name Mary Sue has gotten to be over used and to mean very little of what it's actually *supposed* to mean anymore. I don't know why this has happened, except for reasonably uninformed fic readers are using phrases that they don't know what they mean just because they've seen other people use them and they think that they know what they mean. :P I'm tempted to set up a website just to help people figure out what terms mean, both in the HP fandom and in others.
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Mary Sue, of itsself *is* a pretty blanket term, but I know what you're talking about. I had a fic out (it's since been removed for revamping) that had an original character, who was NOTHING like me. Yes, every man fell at her feet, madly in love. But there was a REASON for that (she'd cast a charm on herself to make it that way) and it was a plot point. Igot a coupla flames for it, "That is SUCH an over done Mary Sue!!" "Why did you make it so that everyone fell in love with you?? This sucks! Didn't anyone tell you that Mary Sues are a bad thing?" and so on. The problem with that was that the whole story had been written and posted by that point, and the plot point had been revealed (not going to share why, since the story's almost ready to be re-released and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may wind up reading it somewhere). Anyway, the character WASN'T a Mary Sue, she just happened to use a characteristic of for a specific plot purpose. It irked me to no end that people thought immediately that she was. That's part of the reason the story is being revamped.
Of course, there ARE fics of mine that have every right to be called a Mary Sue. Hell, I say they are in the header, and they are almost ALWAYS there to poke fun at myself. Much as Scribe's Proverb Series (http://www.scribescribbles.com) pokes fun at Mary Sues in general, and her own in particular. However, those are intentional, and you're really reading them at your own risk.
Anyway, since I think i've gotten off the topic a bit (sorry), I agree with you that the name Mary Sue has gotten to be over used and to mean very little of what it's actually *supposed* to mean anymore. I don't know why this has happened, except for reasonably uninformed fic readers are using phrases that they don't know what they mean just because they've seen other people use them and they think that they know what they mean. :P I'm tempted to set up a website just to help people figure out what terms mean, both in the HP fandom and in others.
Hugs,
TW