What is permissible? (was Re: A pet theory concerning magic in the real world.)

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 18051

Haggridd said:

<snipped whole messages posted by Egg On My Head and myself>
<snipped note that the above had caused confusion; references to the recent
thread of discussion with Richard Abanes>

<<My point is that drawing any inference, any parallel, or any conclusion
from any portion of the real world outside the covers of the seven present
and planned HP books will offend the sensibilities of someone, somewhere,at
sometime.  Where do we draw the line?  I hope that noone feels attacked,
because I am attacking nobody.  The bounds of discussion is a topic of great
interest to us all.>>

My personal view is that there is no easy answer to this, as we all choose
to draw our lines in different places.  From the moderators' viewpoint I can
confirm that the following is included in our netiquette file:

"OT Politics: Political opinion posts are banned for the moment. OT
discussions crept in during the US elections and some people were offended
by the comments of others, so we think it's best to avoid this sensitive OT
area altogether. Thanks for cooperating with us on this."

This is the only stated ban in place, although, IIRC, we previously advised
against discussing the Holocaust after another discussion about the Death
Eaters went astray and caused bad feeling.

In the the case in discussion, I was merely sounding a note of caution, as a
reference to the Northern Ireland situation *could* drift into OT political
comments.

I have already commented on the recent discussion with Mr Abanes, so I don't
wish to go over that again.

In general, it would be restrictive to have too many upfront bans in place,
so the moderators rely on the common sense of list members to avoid
potentially contentious topics and observe the netiquette advice on
respecting others' views. If a problem does develop with a discussion, one
of the moderators may step in with specific advice or comments.

If anyone has any concerns about posting on a topic, by all means pass it by
the moderators first.

Just to reiterate: discussion of JKR's influences in the real world is, IMO,
on topic and perfectly valid.

Neil (struggling out of the moderating thighboots... )
________________________________________

Flying Ford Anglia
Mechanimagus Moderator

"The cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely
a bit bow-legged and its face looked grumpy and oddly
squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall"
["The Leaky Cauldron", PoA]

Check out Very Frequently Asked Questions for everything
to do with this club:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/VFAQ.htm