UPDATE & ACTION REQUIRED, SUNDAY 29 FEB !!

[arrowsmithbt]

--- In HPFGU-Catalogue at yahoogroups.com, "a_reader2003" <carolynwhite2 at a...> wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I have just finished reviewing the topic lists in the files that 
> Kelley put on the site, and making changes to our subject list as a 
> result. In the files section on this site there are now two new Word 
> documents called:
> 
> CategoriesV3 (I have taken down V2 and V1 to avoid confusion)
> De-duped HPfGU topic lists
> 
> Please could you have a look at both ?
> 
>  
> Its important that you feel able to use the Category list - so let me 
> know what you think. Should there be more topics ? Do you agree with 
> the ones I have put in? Etc. The category list is now only four 
> sections, and I have added numbering to every topic, so these codes 
> can be used directly on our spreadsheets, no writing required.
> 
> On the technical front, I have agreed with Carolina that I will do an 
> intro email to Paul Kippes, and I will let everyone know the result 
> of those discussions as I can.
> 
> Look forward to your responses AND to your thoughts on the reject 
> code list.


Hells teeth! I realised that it would depend on detail to successfully
catalogue the posts, but this is more than I expected. Difficult to
reduce without loss of accuracy though. Ah, well. This is what happens
when you break the habits of a lifetime and volunteer.

With this many categories and sub-groups it's going to take some to
become familiar and comfortable with the listed topics etc. Progress
is likely to be slow to start with and there are sure to be anomalies.
If a post turns out to be particularly troublesome, can it be put in
abeyance and downloaded later while thought and perhaps the opinions
of the rest of the group are brought to bear? (This shows my ignorance
of Excel - any news on the possibility of working direct to the database
yet?)

There's a few small points I'd like to raise, one of which may actually 
save us some work!

You suggest that posts referring to the teenaged Tom Riddle be
keyed to Voldemort. Personally, I'd be happier doing so for that
time after he became Voldy. There's five school years before he
enters the Chamber and presumably changes. These years I  see
as more or less a continuation of his pre-Hogwarts persona and
before the defining change.

There's a database in existence for all those "My one true prediction"
posts made before the publication of OoP. Why not leave that lot
as a separate database? Or failing that, can they be folded into
the new database directly as one lump?

I'm wondering if it's worth incorporating those fun threads, also
just before OoP "What you will/won't read in OoP". They're a
succession of one liners - some witty, some not. It'd be really
difficult to sort that lot out - most of each post consists of
duplicating previous efforts. It might be feasible to make a file
of the the compiled lists and stuff it into the files section. Yep,
I know you said that one line posts are to be ignored, but most
are multiple unrelated one line jokes in each post. I suppose 
someone sometime might do research into pre-publication 
hysteria among HP fans. 

Something close to my heart - the section on relationships - could
you include my AGGIE theory in there? Sunken SHIPS are much more
fun than the hearts and flowers stuff and Snape spurning Lily is a
relationship of sorts, isn't it?

You mention not including gibberish - does this mean we can give
Ivan Vablatsky a miss? None  of  his posts seem to have much to
do with canon - just his own strange obsessions. Sad, really.

Barry