Mystery FAQ, HTML-ising, New FAQ Site, Social Issues FAQ

[Aberforth's Goat]

I'm baaaack - and I've been thinking about FAQs a lot. Actually,
no. Not "a lot." Make that "way too much," even "obsessively." So
look out!


MYSTERY FAQ

I just read the latest version of the Mystery FAQ and have
several thoughts:

In particular, it seemed to me that I was reading about four
different sorts of issues:

1) Flints (i.e. mysteries connected to various authorial errors -
runs the gamut from GoF plot holes to "how'd they walk around the
lake three times" issues.)
2) Riddles (i.e. mysteries JKR has dreamed up just to pique our
curiosity about the next bends in the plot - like Dumbledore's
gleam, "ancient magic," the disappearance of Harry's entire
family, prof. Trelawny's first prediction.)
3) Clues (i.e. details that JKR hasn't brought to the
foreground - but may nonetheless hold a key to future twists in
the plot - i.e., the meaning of socks, the color green or the
number 12, Dumbledore's metro scar)
3) Curios (i.e. things that are neither Flints nor Riddles nor
Clues but just make us wonder about the world behind the books -
i.e. is the prefects bathroom coeducational - is Crookshanks a
Kneazel? - how much is a Galleon worth? - how is the Quaffel
handled?)

The mystery FAQ, as it stands, dedicates about 60% of its
contents to Flints, 20% to Riddles, 10% each to Clues and Curios.
(BTW, I'm aware that the dividing lines - particularly between
Riddles and Clues - are highly debatable!)

In any case, the first paragraph of the FAQ ("This group has
spotted a number of mysteries and inconsistencies within the
Harry Potter series. [....] unrealistic deadlines or being
hindered by a veil of secrecy.") concerns itself *exclusively*
with Flints. This seems a pity. Why not explain the categories
(or something like them), then assign one or more of them to each
question? (Kind of like the category symbols they use in the
movie listing in the newspaper here ... )

A couple of details:

1) The worth of a Galleon has been cleared up in
http://www.comicrelief.com/harrysbooks/pages/transcript2.shtml:
> Rebecca Boswell - What is the approximate value of a galleon?
> About five pounds, though the exchange rate varies!

2) The Quaffel question was cleared up by the film.

3) I don't believe that JKR has made any definitive statement
about Crookshanks. However, she does mention that he is "very
smart cat" and refuses to say whether there is "more to him than
meets the eye." See the following:
http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/September_1999_Barnes_No
ble.htm
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm



TURNING WORD FILES INTO HTML

I spent a while poking about the internet this afternoon and made
a few discoveries. Although it's true that Word 2000 creates html
that could petrify a basilisk, there's a nifty freeware program
called "tidy" which can cut Word 2000's html down to the bare
essentials. I saved the latest incarnation of the Mystery FAQ to
an html file then "tidied" it up. I've uploaded the results to
let the more knowledgeable html people judge for themselves.
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-FAQ/files/FAQs/mys-mar7.htm)

It doesn't handle footnotes, font changes or character size
changes, but it does all normal formatting, plus tables, urls and
the various heading levels. I *think* it can even do some
graphics.

Since Paul already has another program that can turn rtf files
into html, we now have two options - and I would be glad to
html-ify files for anyone who is ready to go public.

Three tips for people working in Word:

1) Mark new sections with appropriate header styles, not font
size changes! Header styles translate perfectly and will allow
our webmaster types to do all sorts of neat stuff.
2) Use the Ctrl-K function, which allows you to assign a
hyperlink to any piece of selected text. It will give you perfect
links without bloating the text with URLs. The final html text
will end up looking exactly the way you see it.
3) If you don;t want to bother with cntrl-K-ing things, still try
to put your message numbers close to the part of your text to
which they refer. Those cohorts of message numbers at the end of
each point in the Mystery FAQ are pretty imposing. I would
suggest putting message number references in brackets at the same
place you would otherwise put a footnote marker.


NEW SERVERS, NEW LOOK, NEW TEAM?

I'm just curious - are our new webmaster types (let's see ... at
last count that was Barb, Joy, JenP) ready to start thinking
through our options, perhaps start a conversation with Heidi
about getting our FAQs onto the Fictionalley server? I'd love to
see what JenP can do!

And BTW, has anyone heard from Steve recently? Since he got the
FAQs up in their current form and is presently hosting them, he
should have a say in this process!  I hope the administration at
his school hasn't fed him to the dementors ...


SOCIAL ISSUES FAQ

Tabouli wrote,

> As for the FAQ updating, given my regular cross-cultural
ranting, perilous
> tho' they can be (!), I'm happy to collaborate with the Goat on
the ethnic
> diversity file, in the interests of encouraging cross-species
understanding
> as well as cross-cultural understanding.

Well, unless someone wants to stop us, it looks like we're on our
way to a whole new cultural concept! I'd suggest that we put
together a single "social issues" faq covering four different
issues: nationalism, race, gender and sexuality. (And, as Tabouli
was kind enough to point out, perhaps a little section on the
evils of speciesism wouldn't be amiss ... )

Do you do ym, Tabouli? I can be reached at aberforths_goat.

BTW, although both the Hogwarts and Mystery FAQs refer to some
(perhaps all?) of these issues, none of them currently do more
than mention the questions. So I don't think we'd be betraying a
dead-hippogriff-beating fetish by diving in.

Anyway, if anyone has reservations or comments about this
project, speak now or forever hold your bludger!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray)
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that
may not have been bravery...."



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