[HP4GU-FAQ] Snape FAQ, new improved version

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

In a message dated 13/10/2002 19:25:29 GMT Standard Time, 
porphyria at mindspring.com writes:


> For starters, Prank. I've wound up standardizing the capitalization to 
> "Prank" every time it's cited, since it's not just any prank (Canary 
> Creams, e.g.), it's *The Prank* that's possibly one of the formative 
> events of Snape's life. If people feel that capitalizing it is silly, 
> needless and pretentious, I can change it all back to lower case with a 
> simple search-and-replace, so let me know.
> 

Well, there are those (a few) on the list who would object to the term, 'The 
Prank' whether it's capitalised or not. It's a list term, rather than a 
canonical one.
Given that, I would say it *should* be capitalised, or even put in inverted 
commas (although that would become tedious to read). Perhaps the fact that it 
*is* (AFAIK) a HPfGU term should be acknowledged if it isn't already. (I 
haven't read the FAQ as closely as I would have liked, yet.) Your suggestion 
of a glossary would address that. Similarly Marauders (which, IIRC, the 
Lexicon objects to as a non-canonical term).

I think the target audience comprises both old and new members of the group.
We have to assume that newbies *will* read it (we really want them to, don't 
we?) and so the explanation of terms isn't superfluous. 

I think it does have to be in a separate section though, because, as you say, 
if someone doesn't sit down and read straight through they could easily miss 
the explanation of a term if it is just defined on first occurence.

I know many of these terms *are* explained elsewhere, but I think that for 
newbies, for whom HPfGU can be a huge and rather confusing place, having 
definitions at their fingertips can only be useful.

Eloise


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