No responses on the main list (Was: Wizarding Education )

[Phil Boswell]

Lanthiriel S <isilvalacirca at y...> wrote:
[snip]
> The volume is part of what
> has me so behind, but also the feeling that I rather
> "missed the boat" - that the people on the list all
> know one another, are familiar with each other's
> personal theories, pet peeves, and interests and that
> I as a new member have nothing to add - or, at least,
> nothing that anyone will really care to read.

I agree. Many of the "threads" come across as almost-private
conversations between good friends to which the rest of us are
graciously allowed to listen.

I also get discouraged by the lack of logic and rigour in many of the
arguments. I commented on this, in connection with the time-travel
mania some while back, saying that it felt as if many posters each had
their own pet mcguffin which they were determined to interject into
the discussion regardless of whether there was any support for it in
canon.

Some people are desperate for a time-travel story, so they will try to
work that into the HP series, disregarding all the warnings about it
stated within canon. Suggesting that Dumbledore *must* be Ron Weasley
sent back in time, despite all the back-story about DD in canon, and
the absurdity of such a prominent figure springing up out of nowhere,
is a prime example.

Some people like the idea of good literature about gay relationships,
which includes myself (emphasis on the "good" there, and I include
various books by Misty Lackey amongst my "favourite ever" list). But
there's no reason to jump up and down insisting that Lupin and Sirius
*must* be lovers, for example. Maybe JKR will incorporate a character
who is openly gay, maybe she won't. I don't happen to think it will
make the books bad literature if she never does.

Actually I think the main "miscreants" are those who have chosen their
favourite character, or at any rate their *interpretation* of that
character, and are prepared to defend their opinion to the death.

As for what I think about people who haven't learnt what "snippage" is
and just quote entire posts because they're too lazy to edit, I'm
afraid as a long-ago Usenet freak, my opinion is well-nigh
unprintable. It just gets impossible to read a conversation when the
individual posts are badly formatted and too convoluted to follow. I
just scroll past most of this stuff.

Sorry, this started out as a quick comment, and seems to have turned
into a minor rant. Lunchtime beckons :-)
-- 
Phil