More on Keyword Questions

[Cindy C.]

Elkins:

>I really do think that 
> we should stick to "parricide" as the keyword.  

Can I suggest that we might be putting ourselves through needless 
frustration and worry by stressing about issues like this?  How 
about if the Parricide fans use that, the Murder fans use that, and 
the Kin-slayer fans use that?  So long as these words are in the 
list of key words, everyone will be happy, no?  So if you're writing 
a FAQ about killing of family members in the Potterverse, you'd 
better search for Murder so that you'll pick up everything.  And if 
you're writing a FAQ about killing or evil in general, you'd better 
search for all three terms.

I fear that this discussion of the very best word for every canon 
concept will never end if we must agree on each type of keyword, and 
it becomes much worse if we make a decision and then go back and 
change it.  It also makes it next to impossible to remember all of 
these specific rules anyway.  I certainly can't remember them.

Can't the editor simply sort for each word of potential interest in 
the key word database?

The other thing that has occurred to me is that we only have about 8 
people doing catalogue work.  Even if there is a bit of variation on 
the issue of key words, I think it will be of a manageable level.  
If we had 50 people doing the cataloguing, I would feel differently.


> JKR VS ROWLING
> 
> I prefer JKR as our standard designation for posts that talk about 
> the author's life.  
> 
> I wouldn't use it, though, for questions of authorial intent, 
> authorial inclination, or other such vague theoretical issues.  

I think it depends on the substance of the post itself and the 
extent to which the poster is claiming that particular themes/events 
in the series tell us something about JKR herself.

How about we allow people to use JKR if they think someone looking 
for posts about JKR might find the post useful?  The comments field 
ought to take care of it.  Again, let's give the person reading the 
post and deciding what to do with it the flexibility to decide what 
makes sense.

> "FAVOURITES" THREADS, CHAPTER SUMMARIES, SUPER-COMBINED POSTS
> I think that these posts fall firmly into the category of "threads 
> that ought to be noted in the catalogue, but that for the most 
>part can be ignored."  So since we've defined "Analysis" as our 
>keyword for reader response, perhaps it would be best just to key 
>it to "Analysis," mention in the comments field that it is a thread 
>in which people discuss their favourite scenes, and leave it at 
> that.

Can I suggest that anything that doesn't make a canon point be 
skipped?  Upon reflection, I am thinking that posts that merely 
state a desire or personal preference often add nothing of 
consequence to the discussion as they contain no true canon 
analysis.  

I'd hate to see us clutter up our "Analysis" keyword by including 
threads that *contain no analysis.* Pity the poor FAQ editor who 
sits down to update the Sirius FAQ and most wade through scores of 
post in the catalogue that simply make the point that Sirius is 
their fav or that they hope he doesn't die.  Maybe those posts only 
have value if they are especially stylish, amusing or heart-felt?  I 
would think including them ought to be the exception rather than 
rule.  

Unless we'd like to add an entry for "Drivel?"  ;-)

Seriously, if the point of this database is to collect posts so that 
we can then write essays called "Fantastic Posts and Where To Find 
Them," I think we slow ourselves down unnecessarily and for no real 
benefit every time we note a post simply because it is there.  I am 
finding it much quicker to delete lines than catalogue them, so I 
think the extra effort it takes to compose a solid catalogue entry 
to preserve a post for posterity should be spent on posts that make 
a canon point.

Oh, and that reminds me.  I don't think I ever mentioned to our 
newer members that there was a decision long ago to change the name 
of the essays.  They used to be called FAQs (Frequently Asked 
Questions), but that is confusing because we already have VFAQs 
(Very Frequently Asked Questions) for things like Dumbledore's 
gleam.  So the new name is "Fantastic Posts and Where to Find 
Them."  The acronym for that (FPAWTFT) is a bit, er, unfortunate.  
So we've been calling them FPs.

I'm still referring to the essays as FAQs for a while longer, 
though, because I am very old and set in my ways.  ;-)

Cindy -- who still has a typewriter in the closet and a great 
collection of cassette tapes and records in the basement