ADMIN: Spoiler rules and spoiler period

[bluesqueak]

Greetings from Hexquarters!

Wah hay! Oh joy! It's finally here!

The Phoenix has landed! And with it has landed a request from our 
listmembers. We held a public poll to determine the length of time 
the Spoiler rules should stay in operation. The majority request was 
for a two week post-OOP period. 

Until 23:59 British Summer Time Saturday July 5th, 2003, we would 
like members to continue to use the "OOP" prefix for any post to any 
of our lists that contains spoilers for OoP. 

The end of the spoiler period will be announced on-list.

The definition of a spoiler is: anything in the book, any cover art, 
any cover blurb, any quotation from a news article or interview 
which refers to book, cover art or cover blurb.

[Note: the following examples were quite deliberately written before 
publication. If there are any real spoilers in here, it's a complete 
coincidence]

Subject headers should not, of course, contain spoilers themselves --
"OOP: Sirius dies at Azkaban!" rather defeats the point of the OoP 
prefix. Remember also that the first line of your post appears on 
the Group Home Page under `Most recent messages', so treat that 
first line as if it were a subject header.

For example, an appropriate subject header might be, "OOP: Harry, 
Sirius." Harry and Sirius are so interconnected in previous books 
that this isn't a spoiler. "OOP: Harry, Lupin" on the other hand, 
*would* be a spoiler, as those who haven't yet got hold of a copy 
don't know whether Lupin is in Book 5. "OOP: Lupin" would be better 
(as for all we know, you might be 
posting on why Lupin isn't in the book).


Remember that a subject header which has *both* a chapter number and 
a subject is in itself a spoiler. 'OOP: Chapter 32 - Sirius' tells 
readers that Sirius turns up in Chapter 32. For a reader only on 
Chapter 7, where Harry is worried about his godfather, that's a 
spoiler. If you want to discuss a particular chapter, use chapter 
numbers *only*. 'OOP: Chapter 32' is fine.


Please begin using "OOP" prefix on all of our lists -- especially 
the main list and OT-Chatter – until and including July 5th. And 
remember, if you have any comments about any OoP release issues, 
holler at us at:
hpforgrownups-owner at yahoogroups.com 



"The truth." Dumbledore sighed.  "It is a beautiful and terrible 
thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution." [PS/SS 
Chapter 17]


Be like Dumbledore. Tell people as little as possible. ;-)


We've counted down to June 21st!

The Administration Team