[HPFGU-Feedback] Re: Chat room vs. discussion forum (was: Partly on Posting limits Plus ...)

[Tammy Rizzo]

On 11 Feb 2005 at 6:24, M.Clifford wrote:

<snip>
> Two weeks of No Posting, in itself, will not make a shred of 
> difference to the size of the influx after HBP, I am sure of it. 
> We, most likely, will just sit on our hands until we can post, and 
> when we do it will be just as frenetically and overwhelmingly as it 
> would be if we had done it two weeks ago.
> 
> However, if management was better prepared for it I can see how it 
> will make a huge difference.

Let's admit it, we all know that HBP is gonna be a major list crisis.  Not an emergency, of 
course, not by any means, but it's gonna hit bigger than Hurricane Jo did two years ago, 
simply by virtue of being that much closer to the end of the series.  I remember that, for 
OOP, we had a 'spoiler-free' period that was helpful, but not entirely successful.  Spoilers 
still hit the list before the time was up, and, what I think was worse, slower readers were beat 
out on posting their original theories by faster readers with quicker fingers.  I know I was 
very excited about the possibility of posting some of my own original theories, thunked up 
by my own little lonesome self, and I worked hard to craft them, polish them, and make 
them presentable to the list at large, then logged on ready to send them, only to find them 
already there and picked to pieces by the early birds and spoiler-jumpers.  It was extremely 
disheartening, to say the least.

A two-week no-posting period would give all of us the time and SPACE we need to read 
HBP, re-read it, digest it, come up with our OWN theories unsullied by other people's 
thoughts onlist, re-re-read, theory-tweak, research, write, and polish our messages before 
pasting them to the list once the ban is lifted.  Should make for a fabulous Grand Re-
Opening Day!  And if NOBODY is posting for those two weeks, then NOBODY can say, 
"Hey, I was too busy reading the book to notice this was already on the list".  And the elves 
can get everything set up the way they need it, and have the breathing room to finish the 
cataloging, or to tweak the archives, or whatever, and STILL have time to read the book 
themselves.  This is, very likely, the best proposal on handling the HBP storm yet.  I'm all 
for a two-week break, starting 24 hours BEFORE the release.  That's to catch any bookstore 
workers who earlybird it in the back room during their breaktime.  ;-)

I think the break should be promoted as exactly the thing we listers need, a chance to catch 
up, catch our breath, recover from the shock and tears that we ALL know are gonna be 
there, to start to work through our grief and loss over whoever ELSE is gonna die THIS 
time, and find our way to the thoughts and theories we want to share with the list.  It should 
be touted as the best thing to happen to the list, an opportunity not to be tossed away with 
the tissues, but to be siezed and used to its fullest, so we can all come back to the list after 
the pause, with our posts ready to send, prepared to cross-examine them, defend them, 
prosecute them, whatever.  It will be a most wonderful gift, this break, and one that I fully 
intend to take advantage of.  But only if everyone else does, too.  Otherwise, I'll just be left 
out in the cold again, with my wonderful, original theories already having been thrashed to 
death before their time.

And, of course, we can still accept new members during the two-week hiatus, and explain 
the silence to them, and urge them to take advantage of the break by getting up to speed on 
the Humongous Big File and perhaps wrassling with YahooMort over some of the pre-
release posts.

***
Tammy Rizzo
ms-tamany at ...

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