Predictions (& Other Tripe)

[Jen Reese]

Boyd:
> Help!
> * I think we should have classified all predictions according to 
when they
> were *made* (ain't 20-20 hindsight great?). Instead, we have 
classified
> according to the book the prediction is about. But many 
predictions don't
> specify, e.g. "Dumbledore will die before the end." Where to code 
these? I
> say Book 7, but that poor category is going to get mightily 
abused. Any
> thoughts?

Jen: I found it difficult to code to a book for all the reasons Boyd 
mentioned. Most predictions are made prior to the release of a 
specific book, but who can say if a Seer hasn't had an off day, and 
the prediction is really for two books down the line?

I'd be all for having one main heading for "Canon Predictions" with 
sub-catergories for each book. That way if the post is very 
specific, it can be coded directly to the book.

Boyd:
> Are predictions without canon useful? How? If someone wants to 
> bore us by pointing out how smart they were at baseless 
> predictions, great. Do it offlist, and not with our Catalogue. 
> Only canon-based discussion here, I thought. That way, we can 
> actually *learn" something about the books,possibly see the 
> foreshadowing that a prediction rightly points out.

Jen: The problem here is discerning "without canon." I may predict 
something without specifying the exact canon for it, but it's still 
a reasonable assumption based on the story so far. To me, "without 
canon" means literally there is nothing in the story so far to 
support the assumption, like JKR is going to introduce space aliens 
to save the day, or Ron and Hermione will turn out to be figments of 
Harry's imagination. And even those someone might be able to scour 
around and find canon for, god bless 'em.

But if it's a truly convoluted prediction with no canon points to 
make it clear of back it up, I would cut it.

Boyd: 
> So if a prediction is defended using something canonesque, *and* 
> if it is original in some way, then it is kept. Just like any 
> other post, actually. We'll also keep the resulting canon-based 
> discussion of any prediction, so long as it remains original, too. 
> But so it's clear, canon should be interpreted loosely in this 
> category to include quotes, interviews, themes,
> trends, parallels and similar devices.

Jen: Sounds reasonable to me if the parameters are broad. This will 
be an interesting category for people to go back to. I love running 
across the pre-OOTP posts that are dead on for what actually 
happened in OOTP. Like Grey Wolfe accurately predicting that OOTP 
would be about Dumbledore attempting to out Voldemort, who is 
working secretly without the WW knowing about his return. Sure it's 
reasonable to extrapolate that from canon NOW, but what about after 
GOF? Pretty on-target. And he never called it a 'prediction' per se, 
but I still coded it there, because that's the kind of post people 
will want to see there. Or I would anyway.