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Word for Word

A little too wild about Harry

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published August 23, 2005

It's called Harry Potter for Grownups, but apparently they haven't been entirely grown up lately.

The Harry Potter for Grownups site (groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/) is one of the most active Yahoo groups, with more than 18,000 members, and discussion in its forums has heated up since the July release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Debates about the book itself, part of what Potter fans call the canon, and its possible interpretations may have become a bit too heated. Last week, the list's administrators, who call themselves List Elves, felt compelled to e-mail this admonitory message to members.

So now we know the last place on the Web where good manners are expected.

- COLETTE BANCROFT, Times staff writer

Rylly Elf gathers the rest of the List Elves around the Mainlist. "Look at that, it's kind of scary!"

"What?"

"Oh my goodness!"

"We better say something."

"Yes, quickly, before it, it . . . explodes!"

"Now, now, calm down. All we need to do is remind them to play nice," says Rylly Elf.

Yes, that's right, fellow list members, we're asking you to play nice. Remember that each of us reads the text differently. Please respect that not everyone sees canon in the same way or takes the same things from it. We are each entitled to our opinions.

When stating something that is opinion, please make it clear that you are doing so. Use of things like "IMO," "as I see it," "I think," will help your fellow list members understand that you are stating opinion and not fact. When debating with other list members, remember to address the issues at hand without the use of disparaging or disrespectful remarks. And it's never okay to make personal remarks about the other list member's opinions, no matter how much you disagree with them!

"Think that will work?"

"I think so," says Rylly Elf. "These are Harry Potter fans. They almost always end up seeing a thread through to the finish without hurting anyone."

"What? You mean there won't be bloodshed?"

"Of course not!"

"Thank goodness. It's a huge list, I wouldn't want to be the one to have clean it up in the end."

Trusting there will be no bloodshed,

Rylly Elf

for the Admin Team

-- Word for Word is an occasional feature excerpting passages of interest from books, magazines, Web sites and other sources. The text may be edited for space but the original spelling, grammar and punctuation are unchanged.

[Last modified August 22, 2005, 16:52:02]