Fan persistence (was JKR's site)

[davewitley]

Annemehr wrote:

> First, find all five bricks by clicking around. Note where they 
are,
> because they disappear when you click all five in the wrong order.
> 
> Now, click in the correct order:
> The middle brick,
> the next brick below the middle one,
> the next brick above the middle one,
> the very lowest brick,
> the very highest brick.
> 
> Hope that helps. And this way, at least you get to locate all the
> bricks yourself! (assuaging conscience due to spoiling, hehe).

I'm curious...

When I read the post saying the door in the mirror was open, I went 
to the site, tried the 'locked' door, and it opened.  By clicking 
around at random (thinking of the way into the Leaky Cauldron (pub, 
not website)) I got a brick to disappear.  I systematically went 
through the bricks, until I'd made five holes, which promptly re-
filled themselves again.

It didn't occur to me that the order you click them might matter, so 
I gave up, read a few more messages here until the one with 
the 'ABCDE' code in it.  After that it was easy to get the answer 
just by more clicking around.

So, my question is: did anyone reading this crack it without hints?  
If so, how?  Did you really set out systemetically to try all 120 
different combinations of the five bricks?  After, say, attempt no. 
43, what made you think you would eventually succeed?  Or did you 
get lucky, somehow - is it just that with lots of fans all clicking 
away at the bricks, *someone* was bound to get the right 
combination?  In which case, the frustrating part must have been 
recreating the correct order.

Anyone know?  I'm just amazed at the time and effort people put in, 
given there is no apparent way to work it out.

David, off to look at the rest of the updates