Welcome to HPforGrownups (HPfGU)! The purpose of this group is to provide a fun, friendly, interesting place for adults to enjoy in-depth and thought- provoking discussion of the Harry Potter books. Most of our members are over 18 and they hail from all around the world and all walks of life. Mature teenagers may enjoy the group, but we cannot, for legal reasons, accept members under the age of 13. The moderators, aka the List Elves, are collectively responsible for all administrative and policy decisions governing the entire HPfGU community. We can be reached at HPforGrownups-owner@yahoogroups.com with any questions or concerns you may have. HPfGU has five main groups: HPforGrownups (the "Main List") is for discussion of the HP books (i.e., the 'canon'): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups HPFGU-Movie is for discussion of the HP films: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Movie HPFGU-Announcements is for announcements of new sites, merchandise, fanfic updates, etc.: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Announcements HPFGU-OTChatter is for off-topic discussion of just about anything: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter HPfGU-Feedback, a forum for discussing list policies, administration, and technical issues: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Feedback Sunday Chat: We have a weekly chat on Sundays from roughly 2 pm US Eastern (7pm in the UK, 11am US West Coast). To join simply go to: http://www.chatzy.com/792755223574 Enter a user name for yourself, enter the password: hpfguchat and then click "Join Chat" on the lower right. All new members start out on "moderated" status. This means your post will have to be approved by a moderator before it will go to the group. One of the elves will review it to make sure it is not spam, not inflammatory, snipped enough, has any needed attribution, etc., before sending it on to the main list. (These posting rules are explained below.) The elves may make some minor edits to your post, such as correcting typos, adding a signature, updating the subject line, snipping excess quoted material, etc. Please make sure to look at your post when it's reached the list and make note of any edits made; an elf may also contact you to explain any edits made to your post. The substance of the post will never be changed, but if you'd rather we not make any edits, please let us know. We may instead return your post to you with a note of explanation so that you may make the edits yourself. Please don't be offended; this is standard procedure that all members experience. Sometimes you may see a post that's just like one of your own that was returned. That doesn't mean the elves are selectively enforcing the rules. When members who are off moderated status violate list rules, they are contacted offlist about it. When we do contact you, it will be by the email account you used to join the group; if we continually fail to get a reply from you, we may post directly to the group in an effort to reach you. We prefer not to do so, but if other means don't work, this is what we will do. Sometimes a list elf will add an "Admin Note" (a short comment) at the end of a post. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the post; usually it's a reminder directed to readers of the post. For example, "Though this post is on-topic, please remember when replying that OT subject matter should be sent to HPfGU-OTChatter." Moderated status also applies to the OTChatter, Movie, and Feedback lists (primarily to keep spam out of the groups). All posts to the Announcements list are moderated; please note that Announcements is not a discussion group, but serves as a "community bulletin board". Please also note, the posting rules below apply to all our groups. Posting Rules * Be courteous: No flames, no spam, no rude or hateful behavior. Debate is great, but no personal attacks or insults against other list members. * Do not "top-post:" When you reply to a post, place your new comments *under* the text of the post you're replying to. * Snip: By "snip" we mean delete excess text in the post you're replying to. Anything you are not directly commenting on, anything not needed for context or clarity, please delete it from the post. Leave only the minimum necessary for others to understand your reply. * Attribute: Identify the person who wrote the comments you're replying to, and please include your name (or ID/nickname -- however you'd like list members to refer to you) at the top of your own comments. Ideally, your signature at the end of your post would be helpful too. * Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar: For clarity, use standard English grammar, standard spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Do not use all caps or all lower case letters. Do not use netspeak. Common abbreviations are fine (such as "btw," "iirc," "afaik") but using numbers or single letters for words ("2" for "to," "u" for "you," "r" for "are," etc.) are not. Please proofread your posts. * Please update the subject line of your post when the topic has moved on to something new. * Please try to avoid "one-liner" posts: if they have substance they are fine, but please make an effort to make posts that seem worth reading. * Please do not make "me too" posts. Again, take a little time to add to the post and make it more substantial. The elves will contact you if the rules are ignored, with continual or escalating violations resulting in being placed back on moderated status. Your account will also be returned to moderated status should it become compromised and begin sending spam / phishing posts / viruses to the group. When the problem has been fixed, just let us know and you'll be taken off moderated status again. ADMINS: Onlist messages from the list elves will always have the prefix "ADMIN" in the subject line, and they will be signed by a list elf on behalf of the list elves team. Please read and adhere to these messages. Please do not query or discuss an Admin message onlist. Any questions, comments or discussion should happen on the Feedback list, or contact the elves at HPforGrownups- owner@yahoogroups.com . LEGAL INFO: By posting on any of the HPfGU lists, you agree to adhere to the Yahoo Terms of Use. Further, in so posting, you also grant the HPfGU List Administrators the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt and publicly display such post(s) for the purposes of providing and promoting the various HPfGU groups and sites. Links to electronic texts (e-texts) of any Harry Potter book and any file containing the audio versions of the books or the movie(s) may violate the Yahoo TOU, so please do not post any or we'll have to delete the post. It's also a copyright violation to reproduce substantial portions of any article or book, but you can post links to them. Material posted to other forums is also copyrighted and may be forwarded to HPfGU lists only if the post states that the express permission of author has been granted, even if the author also belongs to HPfGU. Otherwise, you can provide a link. If you have any questions about any of this, please contact the elves at HPforGrownups-owner@yahoogroups.com. We'll be happy to help in any way we can. Again, welcome, and we hope you enjoy yourself here at HPforGrownups! --The List Elves