Review of 1.5.8 Alchemy

[Eustace_Scrubb]

It was another dark and stormy night on the bay.  Doug was about to
give up and slip beneath the waves when a shadowy figure appeared
walking briskly on the water towards him.  Doug squinted at the figure
through the fog...but before he really knew what was happening,
Stoned!Harry himself had grabbed him around the shoulders and dragged
him to shore.    Coughing up sea water and shivering, he didn't even
have a chance to thank Stoned!Harry before the latter strode back off
across the water in search of a Big Bang or perhaps some conversation
with the crew of the good ship LOLLIPOPS.

As he stood alone on the beach, Doug slipped a soaked piece of
parchment out of his pocket, a new and horrid review of category
1.5.8, Alchemy.

Erm, well first of all it wasn't really all that horrid.  I was a
little surprised that only 59 posts have been coded to 1.5.8 Alchemy,
because it seems I've seen tons of posts related to alchemical
symbolism in the books during my time on HPfGU...but since that's only
the past year and a half or so, maybe the subject's come up more in
more recent times.

Anyway, many of the posts so-coded overlap with biographical questions
about Nicholas Flamel (muggle or wizard? partnered with Dumbledore
when and to do what?)

Of the 59 posts in the category I felt that about 80% were posts I
would definitely expect to find if I searched the category.  The other
20% were a bit off--some were mostly about Flamel but didn't really
discuss alchemy except to mention that Flamel was an alchemist.  It's
probably fair to code those to 1.5.8, but one searching for discussion
_about_ alchemy wouldn't find much to chew on.

I found the exercise quite interesting, though I really should get
back to my rather pitiful coding efforts!  (I will look over the new
list of review categories, Carolyn!)

Cheers,

Doug