W.O.M.B.A.T.S

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/4069
"rebecca" <dontask2much at ...> wrote:

<< Deal or no deal, I am informed enough by having planned, performed,
sold, and maintained the implementation of similiar infrastructure and
development work to state that this is a substantial investment in
time, resources and money.  Many Internet users (perhaps not you) 
think throwing up a web page is a no brainer, because many can do that
from home.  This isn't the same thing at all.  Lightmaker is one of
the premier Internet PR and marketing firms, developing such sites as
Disney, all of Warner Brothers, EA (for the gaming crowd) among other
recognizable names.  The words "not cheap" do apply here.

While of course you're welcome to think that this won't be relative, I
am of the other ilk.  The effort and costs associated with this test
are substantial regardless who pays for it, and call me capitalistic,
but if you're not going to get a return on your investment in some
manner, why would you go to the expense and trouble in the first
place?  That "return" I mentioned may be as interesting as Rowling's
answers, IMO. >>

Catlady is very naive and thinks that Rowling decided to pay to have a
high-class website for her fans just for fun and love (fun is a return
on investment, love is a fun place to be). I mean, she has tons of
money (supposed to be the third-richest woman in Britain), so she can
afford 'not cheap'. By all accounts, usually she doesn't live a
particularly lavish lifestyle, but she can give herself an occasional
treat -- it was reported that she rented a castle for her 40th
birthday party. If she *bought* a castle, no one would wonder how she
got the money to pay for it. 

I think Rowling's writing makes it obvious that she has a sense of
fun. I believe that, in addition to writing a moral lesson, she
*enjoys* playing in this corrupt but whimsical world she has invented
(the wizarding world). I think she was as thrilled to discover
obsessive fans who also love playing in her invented world as we
obsessive fans were to find each other -- sometimes it's fun to play
with others, not just solitaire. I think she let Emerson and Melissa
interview her for (her) fun, not as a marketing strategy. I think she
loves sharing discarded scraps from her notebooks with people who care
as much about them as she does. I'm trying to think of a way to say "I
think she likes her fans" without sounding as if I mean, likes each
and every one as a person.