** SPOILER RULES FOR POSTING ON HBP **

[Neil Ward]

After the official release of HBP in the UK (i.e. from midnight on
Friday 15th July, British Summer Time), The Old Crowd will be
observing a temporary spoiler policy to protect those who haven't yet
read the book from exposure to its revelations.

As Heidi has already noted, there is an injunction in place on
revealing any slight whisper of a hint of a snippet about HBP before
the aforementioned release date (http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-
bin/item.cgi?id=115765&d=122&h=24&f=46).*

[* - this link may need reconstructing]

Speculating about the possible content or direction of HBP is fine
and does not need spoiler protection. If in doubt, or posting during
the confusion of time zone transitions, please use the spoiler
protection.

For the good of Mugglekind and the longevity of this list, if any
post appears to be in breach of the injunction before the strike of
UK!midnight on the 15th, it will be removed forthwith and handed over
to the Unspeakables.

In summary, as The Sorting Hat would sing:

"In view of this injunction
On Half Blood Prince, the book
Please demonstrate compunction
If you have sneaked a look.

The Old Crowd will go under
If you expose the text.
So, tear those thoughts asunder
Or, face it, you'll be hexed!"

Okay, you won't actually be hexed, but you get the point. Talking of
which, let's get on to the actual rules:

(1) Please include an HBP prefix at the start of your message title
and ensure the title isn't a spoiler in itself. Those receiving
individual emails may be able to filter HBP posts into a subfolder
if this prefix is used consistently.

(2) Please include fresh spoiler space at the start of every post,
including replies. Note that on Yahoo Groups' webview, the first
couple of lines of each post are displayed in summary, but material
with internal quotes (i.e. '>' symbols) is skipped and shown
as '...'. This can make fun reading, but not if it has "...OMG,
Neville dies!..." or similar in its midst.

We suggest the highly original:
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
at the top of every post.

(3) If you are on Daily Digest, we advise switching to Individual
Emails or Special Notices (webview) to lessen your chance of seeing
spoilers.

Thank you, all.

The Wizengamot