New at this?

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "mejiaciti" <mejiaciti at ...> wrote:
>
> I finally joined a group where i could express my love for Harry Potter. So, can anyone tell me how this works. I would really appreciate it.
> ---mejiaciti
>

Steve:

This is actually one of several companion group. This particular group is for OT (off topic) discussions. Pretty much anything goes here, short of advertising.

The main discussion group restricts discussion directly to the Harry Potter books, and the are frequently going through the books chapter by chapter and discussing them. 

That is Harry Potter for Grownups -

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/

This is the "for Grownups" group because what is said needs to be more substantitive that "Ewww...he's so cute" and "Ron is soooo cool". If you read some of the discussion, they can get quite deep. There is no age restriction, just stay away from frivolous comments.

Right now the Main Group is discussion "Prisoner of Azkaban" Chapter 15. Though previous chapter can still be discussed. These usually start with a selected member of the group posting a summary of the Chapter, and a list of relevant question, and that is enough to get the ball rolling. Once the discussion starts, it it not limited strictly to the questions asked, and can range into almost anything tangentially related. 

There are also a few general rules -

1.) Post BELOW the person you are responding to. 
2.) Trim a quoted post down to just the part that you require to make your point.
3.) I'm not sure of the exact rule, but most start their post with their name, and end with their signature. So, I start mine with "Steve:" and end my posts with "Steve/bboyminn". That helps people keep track of who is saying what, especially when the threat stretches out over multiple posts and quotes.

There are more, but it is really common sense, and you get the hang of it pretty quickly.   

There is another companion group for Movie, and the discussion is limited to the Harry Potter, and to some extent, new movies by Dan, Rupert, Emma, Tom, etc....

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Movie/

There are a few other secondary group, but these are the three main discussion groups. And, though the post rate has dropped substantially now that all the books are out, you will find few places that have as indepth discussions of the books, and movies. And the Off-Topic discussion can get interesting too.

However, be aware that now that all the books are published, the discussion post rate is pretty low. 

Steve/bboyminn