The State of the List Questionaire - Oct 2007

[lizzyben04]

> 1. What has been your general impression of the list since the
> release of DH?

It's probably more polarized, with the "love it"/"hate it" crowds
expressing their opinions & trying to convince the other camps. 

"I wanted more analysis of the text, not Wikipedia articles on what
constitutes a psychopath or how Calvinism differs from antinomianism."
I guess this is a reference to me. Sorry. The thing is, everyone has
different areas that interest them, & not everyone is going to agree.
That's the cool thing about a list with diversity of opinion -
everyone approaches the text with a different point of view &
different interests. Some people are interested in literary analysis,
some in political/sociological issues of elf rights, etc., some in the
religious symbolism, some just in shipping Draco! It's like a rowdy
bar w/ten different conversations at once, so there's bound to be a
few brawls.   

> 2. Have you been posting since the release? Less than, as much as, or
> more than you did before the release? If there is a change, what has
> caused you to change? If you haven't been posting at all, or been
> posting rarely, why do you think that is?

Somewhat less; though it seems like some people stopped posting
altogether as soon as DH came out. Once the book came out, there is
less to discuss in terms of speculation/theories about what's to
come, and that was always a large part of the fun. 

> 3. Are you happy with the way the list is handled and/or the way 
> things are going at present? If you feel some action should be taken 
> by the elves, what would you suggest? What suggestions would you give
> members in general to improve the list? What, if anything, have you
> tried to improve the list?

Probably discouraging personal attacks, though the elves already do
that. Some people have reported getting "flames" off-list from other
posters, though I'm not sure what the elves could do about that. Maybe
it'd be good to have a "weekly topic" to discuss (beyond the chapter
discussions) to ensure that the list doesn't fall into a rut. (Snape
vs. Sirius, etc).
 
> 4. Now that we have all seven books and the speculation is over,
> what do you see as the purpose of this list? What would you
> imagine/want to see happening on the list a year from now?

I'd see the purpose as more literary & character analysis, & less
about theories & speculation. TBAY's day has passed, sadly. Although
with the interviews & encyclopedia, it's starting to look like
there'll be even more to talk about. It seems like traffic will die
down once the publicity has faded, though I imagine there will always
be people interested in HP. 

lizzyben