To the Long-Time Listees

[heiditandy]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:
> As a relatively new listee (joined September '02), I can't help 
> wondering how you older listees see the main HP list these days.  
I 
> did do some reading of the old year 2000 posts and recognized some 
of 
> your names from nowadays -- Cindy C. still posts fairly often, and 
I 
> believe Queer As John was posting a bit last September or October, 
and 
> there are others.

Well, I certainly predate Cindy in the HPfGU community, and John and 
I both joined in mid-2000, IIRC, about the same time as Ebony, a 
little after Simon and well after Jen P. and Penny. In fact, when I 
first joined HpfGU, the day before the release of GoF, I was a 
little taken aback to realise that I couldn't use the 
nickname "PENNY" that I'd been using online since 1993. But it was 
hers originally, and in retrospect, I'm glad that I've always used 
my real name in posting here, weirdly enough.

A few days ago, I was popping around some older posts on the 
separate list we have where, among other things, Elves deal with our 
schedules for welcoming newbies, and I found this post that I made 
in August, 2001:


the reason I don't post as much
anymore has nothing to do with not LOVING the list to pieces and 
actually
reading most every post that is made (I *do*!) - it has to do with 
letting
others have a chance to speak. I sometimes felt (back in Jan & Feb) 
that
when I did a post and nobody replied after it that people thought - 
Oh,
oldbie - she knows...no reason to say more. 
And I like letting the newbies or newer-bies run through topics that 
they've
never tackled before - it's FUN to watch the discussions spiral 
around - the
reason I usually pop up in draco-subjects is mostly to let poor 
belagued
slytherin supporters KNOW that *they are not alone* (: turns away 
from
blinking neon sign saying SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTER!)

***********************
It's been about 20 months since I made that post, and I still feel 
much the same way. While I do still tend to post every few days if I 
think that someone's made a weird misinterpritation of canon (I 
recall one post where someone thought that a school governor was 
more akin to a guidance counseler than anything else...) when 
someone spins a "new-to-them" theory, I usually let the other 
newbies on the list run with it and wrestle it to the ground, piping 
up to point people to certain interviews or FAQ sections, but 
otherwise allowing it to regrow in its own way. 

And there have been new interpritations - I mean, the "ever so evil" 
concept as applied to people like Lupin and Minerva was rarely if 
ever discussed back in The Old Days - but you should see what we did 
to the Wand Order issue - I stake my claim that we, collectively, 
were MUCH more creative than the editors/JKR in the change. 

I still do read at least a line of almost every non-TBAY post on 
HPfGU's main list, and I think I read a little of every post on OTC. 
I go through spurts on the movie list, and I'm in a skimming state 
there right now, as I get my news by reporting it on The Leaky 
Cauldron.

And I'm also active on FictionAlley, where the message boards don't 
have the same level of demarcation between fanfic and the movies and 
books and mythology and history, so things are a little freer/looser 
there regarding the content of posts, and I enjoy being able to 
combine thoughts from my fanfics (and those I've read) with actual 
lines from the books and comments by the actors from the films to 
make a point about something (again, often on Draco topics ;) )

> 
> Do you guys see much at all that you haven't seen 100 times 
before?  

Hmmm. Hard question. Some interpritations are different - some of 
those different ones, I can't see in canon myself, at all. Sometimes 
I wonder if people just try to come up with something new for the 
sake of it being new, and don't really look to see if it hangs with 
canon completely. Or they've read the books 1-2 times and just don't 
remember things with the pinpointedness of one who's read them 10 or 
12. I've been a fan of the books for over four years - I naturally 
have a different perspective on them than someone who's just 
finished GoF yesterday. Of course, that person will have a nervous 
breakdown waiting for Book 6. Me? Ha! I waited for Book 3. I'm *used 
to this* by now.

heidi