Two Responses to Tom and other stuff

[abigailnus]

Tom wrote:

>>I know that this could another item to our 'to-do' list, but do you 
 think that it'd be fun to seek out not just the Fantastic Posts, but 
 the truly exceptional ones over the next year or so, and then give 
 out some Net-Awards for them?>>

I don't think this is a good idea at all, and I think it falls quite outside 
our mandate.  The FAQ team's job is not to run a contest, or to pick 
out the best posts.  Our job is to help the group remember its past 
without drowning in it.  True, we try to identify the best posts on every 
subject, but the FPs are not a celebration of those posts.  They are 
informative articles.  The fact is that there might be messages better 
then the ones quoted in the FPs, but the FP references the messages 
that got there first - some of the message numbers there are under 
10,000, for heavens' sake, that's before Elkins and everything.

I know that the FPs are our chance at posterity, guys, but we have to 
remember that that is not the point.  The point is providing information.

Tom also wrote:

>>Someone told me that Hypothetic Alley is comprised mostly of posts in 
 the TBAY format as a matter of choice. Is this accurate? There are 
 many theories in there that got their start outside of the TBAY 
 format; Magic Dishwasher, one of the most prestigious, comes to mind 
 in this respect. Granted, many of them have been further discussed in 
 that format, but, well, how are we going to handle that stuff now?
 
 I ask 'cause there has been such a flurry of new theories and 
 additions to old ones... should we be using the 'TBAY' format as a 
 criterion, or not?>>

There is absolutely no requirement to present a theory in TBAY format.  
TBAY is a stylistic designation, nothing more and nothing less, and a 
theory is no more or less valid because it has been created within the 
TBAY environment.  I want to be especially clear on this because, like it 
or not, TBAY is a clique within HPfGU - a very open, inclusive clique, but 
a clique nonetheless.  To insist that HA theories can only come from 
TBAY posts is essentially to limit HA to a specific sub-group of HPfGU 
posters.

The only qualification for a theory to enter HA is for it to become popular 
enough to warrant the mention.  Again, the FPs and HA are meant as an 
informative service to group members.  If a theory gets mentioned often in 
discussions - such as MD or LOLLIPOPS - then it belongs in HA where new 
members can look it up and find out about it.  Auror!Arthur, for example, 
which is a TBAY theory, is not so popular, and so doesn't belong in HA 
(although I think a mention in the new version of The Weasley Family FP 
wouldn't be out of order, hint, hint).

Derannimer, the forwarded message was not attached, but I'm wondering 
if this isn't someone who read the request for contributions and somehow 
missed the note about not needing to join the archive group.  I think a form 
letter politely refusing such applicants was suggested at some point.

A scant five hours after posting the request for contributions, it has already 
disappeared from webview, and there have been no new entries on the 
database or in the archive group.  I'm trying very hard not to read too much 
into this.

Abigail