I thought you meant in your initial post that the writer is the ultimate authority and I don't agree with that.

Yeah, I don't mean that. I'm not sure there's any "authority" in art (I hate calling my stuff or fanfic in general art, but you know what I mean) or in anything that is created then shared, you know (I'm one of those who also doesn't think the educated art critic has a "better" opinion than any random Joe, or more right to have an opinion)? That is, yes, I don't stop existing as a human being just because I'm an author - I can have a viewpoint too - but the thing about art is, as you describe in your original response, once it's out there it "belongs" to its audience (well, hell, it belongs to its audience even when it isn't "out there" - when the audience is just the author/creator!). But when art's out in the world, it's out in the world. I wouldn't have it any other way - in fact, I've gain a few online "enemies" (strong word, but sort of accurate) by basically saying that when your stuff's out there, it's out there for better or worse and you don't get to direct how people react to it, whether you like their reaction or not - and people who want to silence reactions they don't like should keep their friggin' art to themselves, because that's censorship, and I'm anti.

So I think we basically agree.