Old FAQ stuff - in files

[Neil Ward]

Dear all,

Cindy chased me down a dusty corridor with her broom recently, so 
I've posted a few files that may be of help.  See Neil's FAQs folder 
in the Files area. 

The first thing to mention is that I lost the hard drive on my 
computer recently, and hadn't backed up some files, including some 
work I'd done on the FAQs since autumn 2000.  For example, around the 
time I posted the MacGonagall FAQ, I'd almost finished a draft of the 
Quidditch one (it needed stuff adding from the Schoolbooks, but it 
was reasonable, otherwise).  Now, the best I can give you is a 
version from October 2000, which is not long after we'd collated the 
first wave of messages.  This means it only covers the Yahoo messages 
and, I think, a few early eGroups messages (i.e. virtually nothing 
from the current YahooGroups!)

Apart from Quidditch, the only other thing I had in some sort of 
format at that point (stored on my old PC) was the Character Accents 
FAQ (that dates from September 2000).  

I've also included files of messages on Quidditch and Spells & 
Charms, both dating from the same time (Sep 2000).  Spells & Charms 
was quite a mammoth undertaking, even then, and I'd decided to split 
it into about ten files, based on individual spells or groups (such 
as the Unforgivable Curses) about a year ago.

So, all in all, not much of use, I'm afraid.  I do have some messages 
sorted into groups in the email archives on my old computer (which is 
where all this stuff was stored), so might be able to pull something 
useful from that.  It's all two years old though.  

Here's a run-down of the FAQs I was originally doing:

1) Ron - completed, but now out of date

2) Magical Devices/Objects - completed, but now out of date

3) MacGonagall - completed, rather less out of date, but still ancient

4) Quidditch - lost near-complete draft.  Note: Ebony wanted to be 
involved in this FAQ.

5) Character Accents - had a draft, but there wasn't much to say

6) Spells & Charms - (see above).  I also had some handwritten notes 
on a printout of messages that I can't find.  Note: Sheryll was 
taking on this FAQ.

7) Snape - had made progress on reviewing messages in the early days, 
but stalled when the discussion on him went ballistic.  I think Gwen 
or someone else (?) decided to take that one on not so long ago, so 
I'm backing away from it, rapidly...

8) Casting/Movie - I gave up on this one once the first film was 
released, but had done some work on fantasy casting discussions, 
technical stuff about the film and had planned a sub-FAQ about 
locations used.  It was a non-starter though.

9) Wizarding World (general) -   Meant for things that wouldn't go 
anywhere else.  There were a few topics that seemed to fit, such as 
genetics and the nature of magic, but I didn't even get to drafting 
stage.

10) Mysteries & Inconsistencies CoS - Penny did a more general M & I 
on the books, so the individual ones were dropped, IIRC

At this point, I'm not planning to do any more work on these FAQs, so 
feel free to take on any of them and make them your own.  

Neil