Re: Efforts to Archive WX Threads

[Julia H.]

Answer to PAH's questions:

Did you mean these 4 ...

Yes, exactly those! You see, when I posted this, it made sense, as there were no other read along threads mentioned, but now, with the updates, the continuity of my original post has been lost.

About the index: Yes, I meant to put a general index into the Harry Potter Book Read Along Thread (quite as you understood it), but you are right, there is no need for a separate thread for this. (I did not think of merging the read-alongs in one thread.) Perhaps I would still keep this "introductory" thread for a while yet, just in case. We can always get rid of it when the reposting is completed. As for the index itself, I thought it should include reference to the original threads as well as to the books. For example, there are three different DH read-alongs: One was for "first-time-readers", one was a little later, and there was an incomplete, pre-movie one, which will all be in the same thread now. (The last one was originally in the movie section, but perhaps we could archive it with the rest of the read-alongs.) The index could be further detailed according to chapters (rather than a given number of posts).

If you agree, there will also be an extra thread for the last series read-along, because I would like to keep those discussions together, as those threads started with the specific purpose of going through the whole series in chronological order with participants who already knew the whole story. I would like to see it continued, too, and then it would be useful to have the first half of the discussion series together rather than scattered in several threads and merged with previous read-alongs.

[Potteraholic]

If you agree, there will also be an extra thread for the last series read-along, because I would like to keep those discussions together, as those threads started with the specific purpose of going through the whole series in chronological order with participants who already knew the whole story. I would like to see it continued, too, and then it would be useful to have the first half of the discussion series together rather than scattered in several threads and merged with previous read-alongs.

Julia, it's not up to me to agree or give permission... I was just trying to understand what your system for organizing all the Read Alongs was.

Re: Continuing the Read Alongs here on forumotion, that's fine, but according to what Denise and shepherdess mentioned a few months ago, outlined [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and continuing for a couple of posts afterwards, new discussion threads would not be started in the Archived from WX folders, but in the new forumotion ones. My impression from the posts that were written by Denise and shepherdess in May was, start as many new discussions as folks want, but in the new section of the forum, not the Archived ones.

So maybe, after you repost all the Archived Read Along threads, you start a new discussion thread in the non-Archived section and then insert a link to that new thread in the index of the Archived Read Along discussions. Do you see what I mean?

[Julia H.]

Oh, yes, PAH, I thought of it that way. We can start a new discussion in a place for new discussions, mentioning (with a link), that this is the thread to continue the series read-along that we started and not completed on the old forum. I did not mean to continue the old threads in the archived section, only to keep those read-alongs (books 1-4) separately from earlier, finished read-alongs for easier reference (and re-read).

On the other hand, we won't have a thread for archived GoF read-alongs, because the only GoF read-along we have is the one that is part of the series (even that one is incomplete). Ever seen a neglected book?

[Lady Arabella]

I see that Odo the Hero is our newest registered member!! Hopefully he'll be by the archived section soon.

[Mona]

Welcome back, Odo! Where have you been all these days? I hope everything is OK.

Julia, I didn't understand what you said about the index. I also didn't realise that the DH chapters folder was a Read-Along. Shall I format it and keep it ready, and you can tell me when to start reposting it? Any other instructions? I don't want it to end up in the wrong place and mess up the read-along section.

LA, in the Ron Weasley thread you sent me, there's one section like this (in red) -

[squid, The giant]The giant squid - May 22, 2004 6:34 pm (#555 of 1957) Reply

JKR gets ideas for the greatest series written, I get ideas that make me sound rabid.

LOL, Alyssa! I feel the same way a lot of the time.

- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#556 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#557 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#558 of 1957) Reply



haymoni - May 25, 2004 6:06 pm (#559 of 1957) Reply

Call me naive, trusting, dim-witted...whatever - I simply refuse to believe that Ron or Neville would betray Harry, Dumbledore, the Order...whomever.

They are good, decent, sincere people and they know that too much is at stake. Their families/friends have suffered terribly. They are not taking the current situation lightly.

The ONLY way I would find this believable is if they were put under the Imperius Curse and then, technically, they would still not be traitors.

- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#560 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#561 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#562 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#563 of 1957) Reply



- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#564 of 1957) Reply



[Vlad, I Am Used]I Am Used Vlad - May 25, 2004 8:34 pm (#565 of 1957) Reply

"Although I never meant him to be like Sean, once I got Ron onto the page he often behaved like my oldest friend, who is both very funny and deeply loyal. However, there are also substantial differences between Ron and Sean."

I don't think this quote is evidence that Ron will not betray Harry. JKR is saying that she noticed that Ron was funny and loyal like her friend Sean, but that doesn't mean he will remain so for the rest of the series.

And let me add that I am the world's biggest Ron fan and I don't think he will betray anyone. But the quote doesn't really prove this.

- Aug 24, 2008 3:43 pm (#566 of 1957) Reply



[Owl, Weeny]Weeny Owl - May 25, 2004 9:37 pm (#567 of 1957) Reply
Edited May 25, 2004 10:38 pm

One thing we have to take into consideration regarding Ron is the whole thing with the brains and what was said about thoughts leaving deeper scars than almost anything else.

I think after the Department of Mysteries battle, we'll see a more serious and considerate Ron. I think he will do quite a bit of growing up and realize just what is at stake.

Any idea what happened to the missing User Names and posts? If you don't, it's OK. I'll just post a note saying we're clueless.

[Potteraholic]

→ as of July 18, 2011: 253/574 threads reposted! Just over 44%!

LA, I went ahead and updated your 'Reposted threads' post with the 3 'Magical Places' threads you reposted recently. (I was eager to insert more √s into the tables and your 3 helped bring us over the 44% threshold! ) Re: the Horcruxes threads... WOW! That's a lot of posts! I'll tackle those when I have more of the Five Words Archive done. But send any threads from the 'Opinions On All Things Harry Potter' folder that you would like. I'm all about getting sections of the tables done, rather than random threads here and there.

Mona and Julia, I've update the tables with your threads, too.

Julia, I also do not completely understand your response to my comment about the index. But then again, in order for me to understand what I was saying, I had to make a visual, so that I wouldn't Confund myself. To use the terminology we use in American education these days, I am a 'visual learner' as opposed to an 'auditory' or 'kinesthetic' one. It took me a while to figure out how to best lay out the Five Words Archive, which is similar to what I showed in my 'Read-Along' example. So I suppose it will make more sense to me when your Index is done and I can click the links to get from one place to another. Good things come to those who wait.

As I've reposted threads, I'm continually astounded — as are many of you, I'm sure — by the number of times folks have misspelled The Dark Lord's name. If I had a galleon for every time it was misspelled, I'd have quite a nice pile of 'em in my Gringotts vault!

Welcome, Odo! If I remember correctly, you completed your senior year in high school and are getting ready for college? Or am I off by a year?

Okay, time to get off the computer for a bit and help my mother out in the garden. Today's the best day for it, as the humidity level is forecast to increase as the week progresses.

[Lady Arabella]

Woo Hoo for 44% re-posted!!!!

Mona, that "hiccup" with the Ron Weasley posts was in the original thread when I copied it. Since the dates are from 2008, not 2004, and all of the times say 3:43 p.m., my guess is that there was a computer glitch with the Forum; or one of the original posters, or perhaps a moderator, was going back and deleting things. Although why that would be done 4 years later, I have no idea.

I think you could just delete those entries when re-posting, or as you said, just note this is the way the thread was when archived, and we don't know why the posts are missing or why they have a different date.

[Odo the Hero]

I haven't read all of this thread, but I'm wondering if there is something I can or should do in furtherance of the archiving efforts. I don't have any threads saved except for a couple of old Snape threads which have already been reposted, and I'm not sure if this means I there is nothing to do (for instance, if all old threads have been copied and saved and just need to be reposted) or if there are other things that need doing.
Potteraholic, you are off by a year; I will be a senior in high school this fall.

[Potteraholic]

Odo, good to read your message. As the post title indicates, there is still a fair bit of reposting to do. And Lady Arabella is amenable to other folks helping her out with reformatting/reposting the amazingly long list of threads she managed to save before WX closed down. But before you even consider volunteering, it would be helpful if you:

- take a look at the archived threads to get a feel for the look of them re: info. that's bolded, how posts are reposted in batches of 25 to 50/post, how there are demarcation lines between individual posts, etc.

- familiarize yourself with the formatting code here which is a bit different here than it was on WX. But I dunno, you might be quite comfortable with BBCode already, depending on whether you're a member of other forums that use that code. In any case, there's a Practice thread at the bottom of the home page, and I encourage you to try stuff out there.

- read the posts about formatting saved documents from May 18th/19th onwards. Elanor starts the ball rolling [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. It is quite helpful, and if you keep reading posts after that, for the next 2 weeks or so, you'll read about all the things we figured out about formatting as we went along, through trial and error. Hopefully, you'll find them helpful.

All the Archivists were given Moderator status by Denise, who owns this forum, since we need to have access to unlimited editing of posts, as well as being able to lock, move, and merge threads as necessary. So without Mod status, reposting threads is a bit tricky.

But... the most time-consuming aspect of reposting the archived threads is reformatting them from a .txt document to something more streamlined and nice to look at in a Word document. This is what I mean:

Sample of archived thread in .txt doc:

+ Sirius Black's Motorcycle
Erin D. - Dec 4, 2004 4:53 pm
Edited by Kip Carter Jun 12, 2008 1:28 pm
If Sirius Black was HP's godfather, then why wasn't Harry given to Sirius when his parents died? I mean, wouldn't there be laws, even in the wizarding world, that would protect dead people's wishes about who gets to raise their kid?

And if Sirius wasn't considered for custody of Harry because everybody *knew* he was a bad guy, then why on earth did Hagrid trust a motorcycle that had been bewitched by him to carry little HP to his relatives' house?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paulus Maximus - Dec 4, 2004 4:33 pm (#1 of 122)
Hagrid didn't know at the time that Sirius was a traitor, and so had no cause to suppose that the motorbike had been bewitched.

As for Sirius taking custody of Harry... Remember, Sirius did try to take Harry, but Dumbledore's orders overrode Sirius' wishes.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Choices - Dec 4, 2004 5:25 pm (#2 of 122)
And Sirius would have had trouble raising Harry in Azkaban.




---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The same text cleaned up using BBCode in a Word doc:

Sirius Black's Motorcycle

This topic serves as an archive of a thread from the Harry Potter Lexicon Forum as hosted on World Crossing, which ceased operation on April 15, 2011. It was copied/saved by Lady Arabella and reformatted/reposted by Potteraholic. ~Potteraholic

Erin D. - Dec 4, 2004 4:53 pm
Edited by Kip Carter Jun 12, 2008 1:28 pm

If Sirius Black was HP's godfather, then why wasn't Harry given to Sirius when his parents died? I mean, wouldn't there be laws, even in the wizarding world, that would protect dead people's wishes about who gets to raise their kid?

And if Sirius wasn't considered for custody of Harry because everybody *knew* he was a bad guy, then why on earth did Hagrid trust a motorcycle that had been bewitched by him to carry little HP to his relatives' house?

---

---

Paulus Maximus - Dec 4, 2004 4:33 pm (#1 of 122)

Hagrid didn't know at the time that Sirius was a traitor, and so had no cause to suppose that the motorbike had been bewitched.

As for Sirius taking custody of Harry... Remember, Sirius did try to take Harry, but Dumbledore's orders overrode Sirius' wishes.

---

---

Choices - Dec 4, 2004 5:25 pm (#2 of 122)

And Sirius would have had trouble raising Harry in Azkaban.

---

---

See the difference between the two? The .txt doc is not as presentable as the reformatted Word version, and has lots of extra, and unnecessary space between posts.

---

---

Here's the code for the above:

Code:

Sirius Black's Motorcycle

[quote]This topic serves as an archive of a thread from the Harry Potter Lexicon Forum as hosted on World Crossing, which ceased operation on April 15, 2011.  It was copied/saved by Lady Arabella and reformatted/reposted by Potteraholic. ~Potteraholic [/quote]

[b]Erin D.[/b] - Dec 4, 2004 4:53 pm 
Edited by Kip Carter Jun 12, 2008 1:28 pm

If Sirius Black was HP's godfather, then why wasn't Harry given to Sirius when his parents died? I mean, wouldn't there be laws, even in the wizarding world, that would protect dead people's wishes about who gets to raise their kid?

And if Sirius wasn't considered for custody of Harry because everybody *knew* he was a bad guy, then why on earth did Hagrid trust a motorcycle that had been bewitched by him to carry little HP to his relatives' house?

[hr][hr]
[b]Paulus Maximus[/b] - Dec 4, 2004 4:33 pm (#1 of 122) 

Hagrid didn't know at the time that Sirius was a traitor, and so had no cause to suppose that the motorbike had been bewitched.

As for Sirius taking custody of Harry... Remember, Sirius did try to take Harry, but Dumbledore's orders overrode Sirius' wishes.

[hr][hr]
[b]Choices[/b] - Dec 4, 2004 5:25 pm (#2 of 122) 

And Sirius would have had trouble raising Harry in Azkaban.

[hr][hr]

If all this looks too daunting, I understand. But... we could always use moral support whenever updates about the percentage of threads that have been reposted are posted in the Chat thread. Speaking for all the Archivists, we LOVE moral support! So if you could do that and show your appreciation in the Chat thread, that would help us, too!

[Odo the Hero]

Thanks for the information. I see that it's rather more complicated than I envisioned, though it seems the result will be nicer. I will look at some of the howtos and earlier parts of this thread when I have energy, and see if I think there's any way I can help out. In the meantime, I will try to give moral support.

[Mona]

Odo, out here in India a high school senior will be way too busy with school activities and preparing for their NEWTS to have any time for things like archiving. I don't know how it is out there.

We'll be more than happy with moral support. BTW, your role as one of the initiators of the archiving process is not forgotten. See John's post [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Mona, that "hiccup" with the Ron Weasley posts was in the original thread when I copied it. Since the dates are from 2008, not 2004, and all of the times say 3:43 p.m., my guess is that there was a computer glitch with the Forum; or one of the original posters, or perhaps a moderator, was going back and deleting things. Although why that would be done 4 years later, I have no idea. - LA

OK then, LA. Guess we'll just have to use this smiley

44%? Yay!

[Potteraholic]

So... after about two months of reposting, I thought it'd be good to look at our progress over that time.

Reposting Progress

• May 23, 2011 - almost 10%
• May 27, 2011 – just over 11%
• May 29, 2011 – just over 15%
• Jun 4, 2011 – almost 20%
• Jun 5, 2011 – almost 21%
• Jun 12, 2011 – nearly 23%
• Jun 25, 2011 – almost 31%
• Jul 9, 2011 - almost exactly 38%
• Jul 18, 2011 – just over 44%

I think it's good to see all that's been done in a relatively short time. Well done, everyone!

Maybe we can get to 50% before August 1st? I'm going to post this list in the 'Table of Archived/Reposted threads' header post soon.

[Lady Arabella]

**waves to Odo** Good to see you here! I want to thank you and MAMS for getting us started on this Grand Archiving Adventure! It's actually been very satisfying, and I have learned loads!

And the re-formatting/re-posting isn't that daunting, just time-consuming. John Bumbledore has a great spreadsheet that is very helpful and does a lot of the initial formatting. (thanks John!) I am one of the slower re-posters as I don't have a lot of time, but it all adds up.

RE: 44% re-posted!! (more ) I realized yesterday that in only 3 months (April 15 to July 18), we have re-posted nearly half of a forum that was 7 years in the making!! That is amazing!

PAH, yesterday I re-posted a thread to the Current Discussions Among Members folder, and didn't have the "New Topic" option at the bottom of the page. When I double-clicked on "Locked," a new topic would open, but with out "Post Reply" underneath. When I again double-clicked on "Locked," a message area opened up. I was able to re-post the thread, I'm just curious as to why that folder is different from the other folders.

*****
edited to add
PAH, I added to the July 18th update you did for me [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

[Potteraholic]

I realized yesterday that in only 3 months (April 15 to July 18), we have re-posted nearly half of a forum that was 7 years in the making!! That is amazing!

I had a similar thought myself! And I've been managing to do the reformatting simply by using the FIND/REPLACE option on Word... that's more my speed.

PAH, yesterday I re-posted a thread to the Current Discussions Among Members folder, and didn't have the "New Topic" option at the bottom of the page. When I double-clicked on "Locked," a new topic would open, but with out "Post Reply" underneath. When I again double-clicked on "Locked," a message area opened up. I was able to re-post the thread, I'm just curious as to why that folder is different from the other folders.

I have absolutely no idea. That's a question for the Ministry's Dept. of Mysteries... or Denise.

Speaking of Denise, I noticed that, at the end of June, you asked Denise to create a new folder for the FanFiction stuff you archived.

Denise, could we have one more topic in the Archived WX Threads section, called (for now) St. Mungo's Hospital? (I am open to suggestions for another name.)

I'm thinking we also need an 'Administration' folder for the thread that you just reposted and the 3 others you also have:
1) Philosophy of the Forum, 2) Forum Behavior – Please Read, 3) Lexicon Forum Tops Bloomsbury's Web Site's Forum List; thought I'm not sure the 1st 2 will need to be reposted since Denise has posted them in every folder, I think. Also, re: the FFF thread name suggestion, how about simply, 'Threads from the FanFiction Forum'? What do you think? I can put in a request for both folders once you've replied.

[Lady Arabella]

I'm thinking we also need an 'Administration' folder for the thread that you just reposted and the 3 others you also have:
1) Philosophy of the Forum, 2) Forum Behavior – Please Read, 3) Lexicon Forum Tops Bloomsbury's Web Site's Forum List; thought I'm not sure the 1st 2 will need to be reposted since Denise has posted them in every folder, I think. Also, re: the FFF thread name suggestion, how about simply, 'Threads from the FanFiction Forum'? What do you think? I can put in a request for both folders once you've replied.

I did think about having an Administration folder, but since Denise has posted the Philosophy of the Forum and Forum behavior in every folder, it doesn't really seem necessary. The "Lexicon Forum Tops Bloomsbury's, etc." seemed to fit well in the Harry Potter Related News folder, and it doesn't make sense to have an Admin folder just for one thread.

The only thread that is "homeless" is the Copyright thread, and my thought is that it's pertinent to the Current Discussion folder and should be posted there as well as in the Archived section - or at least Kip's original post should be. But - - -since it was Kip's post, maybe he should decide if it's in the current section or not.

[Julia H.]

Mona and PAH, I'm not going to do anything about the index until all my threads are reposted, so perhaps we could postpone this question. It is enough to deal with one problem at a time.

Mona, if you could do the formatting, I'll open a DH Read-Along thread, so it will have the same look as the other Read Along threads, and there you can post the DH Chapter Folder. On the old Forum, the DH Chapter Folder was a section of its own, but in fact it is a read along, and I see no reason to separate it from the other read alongs. It is the oldest DH read along we have, therefore it should be at the beginning of the new DH read along thread.

[Julia H.]

Mona, I started the new DH read along thread, and it's waiting for posts now. If you prefer to format the threads in the DH Chapter Folder and send them back to me for posting, I'll be happy to do it - the formatting is the biggest part of the work anyway. Thanks!

[Mona]

LA, I got the DA2 file, thanks.

Julia, the problem is the thread that's posted in last gets bumped up to the top of that section (I think), so if you want it in a certain order, that could be a problem. So either tell me when to repost it, ie., after you finish the HBP read along, or I'll format it and send it back to you, like you said. Which ever you prefer.

If the order of the threads in that section isn't important to you, then I can repost it at any time. More decisions for you!

[Mona]

On second thoughts, Julia, maybe I'm making it seem more complicated than it is.

What we can do is - I'll wait till you finish reposting the HBP read-along (and no hurry for this - take your time), then I'll repost the DH chapters folder (as one thread), then you can continue with the remaining DH threads that you have.

What do you say?

[Julia H.]

Mona, I've been thinking of the problem of keeping the order of the read-along threads, because I confess I skipped the posting of the CoS threads and moved on to posting the PoA and OotP threads simply because they seemed to be more quickly repostable. (Yes, I've already ironed my hands. ) So the order of the threads will be disturbed anyway when I finally get to the CoS read along - but I'm clinging to the hope that moderators can move the threads where they want to. I like both the solutions you offered.

[Potteraholic]

The "Lexicon Forum Tops Bloomsbury's, etc." seemed to fit well in the Harry Potter Related News folder, and it doesn't make sense to have an Admin folder just for one thread.

The only thread that is "homeless" is the Copyright thread, and my thought is that it's pertinent to the Current Discussion folder and should be posted there as well as in the Archived section - or at least Kip's original post should be. But - - -since it was Kip's post, maybe he should decide if it's in the current section or not.

Re: the 1st thing, makes absolute sense! RE: the 2nd, you could ask Denise in the 'Questions to...' thread, and await her response before reposting the 'Copyright' thread. And... what do you think about a folder called 'Threads from the FanFiction Forum' for all the FFF stuff you archived?

Mona and PAH, I'm not going to do anything about the index until all my threads are reposted, so perhaps we could postpone this question. It is enough to deal with one problem at a time.

Julia, to quote what I said [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So I suppose it will make more sense to me when your Index is done and I can click the links to get from one place to another. Good things come to those who wait.

I am happy to wait-and-see. The Five Words Archive and the Horcruxes thread that LA sent are keeping me plenty busy now. (Still can't get over how many posters thought there were 2 Rs in 'Voldemort' → 'Voldermort'.

FY! everyone, 1% out of 574 threads that were archived = 5.74 threads, or nearly 6 threads. So now, we're at just over 44%. I think getting to 50% by August 1st would be a great milestone, don't you? (Like getting over the hump of a hill when bikeriding, hiking, etc. ) To do that, about 36 more threads need to be reposted. (I haven't updated the tables since Monday morning, so that's not counting threads reposted after that. Can we do it? LA, are there any shortish threads you could pass on to anyone who's willing to reformat/repost?

[Lady Arabella]

And... what do you think about a folder called 'Threads from the FanFiction Forum' for all the FFF stuff you archived?

Sounds good to me!

(Still can't get over how many posters thought there were 2 Rs in 'Voldemort' → 'Voldermort'.)

LOL!! When working on the Hogwarts thread, I couldn't believe how many people spelled McGonagall as "McGonnagal" or "McGonnagel." And each time I start a thread I do a find/replace for "definately." A large number of people think that is how "definitely" is spelled. And I probably shouldn't get started on how many people seem to be unacquainted with The Apostrophe and The Many Ways In Which It Is Used.

LA, are there any shortish threads you could pass on to anyone who's willing to reformat/repost?

Yes, there is an entire folder of Witches, Wizards, Muggles and Squibs with fairly short threads (most of them anyway). I would be happy to send those to anyone who wants them!

[Potteraholic]

LA, re: all the typos/misspellings and apostrophe confusion you mentioned, I second what you said. Add to the list of surprisingly misspelled words: Hogwarts and Dumbledore.

I'm gonna request that folder, and think 'From the FanFiction Forum..." should do. Nice and alliterative.

Go ahead and send me those threads, LA. I've got my eye on that 50% mark.

[Mona]

I'm not in a position to complain about spelling because to this day I can't spell the name of Harry's house or Head of House. If I make a note of it, I forget it by the time I use it next. ( I think I've again mispelled Minerva's name in the Hangman thread just now).

PAH, 36 threads sounds like a lot. I think I'll be able to do only 4 or 5, if that (by August first). The threads I'm doing now take a long time to format beacause they dont have distinctive spaces between posts.

For example -

[fidelio]fidelio - Sep 1, 2003 1:11 pm (#4 of 1030) Reply

I think that's a great point, Tim. As Moody says, "We all know there's something odd about that kid", or words to that effect. Yet he seems so normal on the outside, unlike Luna. It's only when you start going into everything that's happened to him, and what he's said about it, and how people choose to interpret that, that you see that he is almost as much of an outsider in the WW as he was back with the Dursleys. Having somone near him who's ready to look at things outside the normal framework would be a help. And as far as I can tell, not only does Luna see things outside the normal framework, she may not be ready to concede any framework at all!

[Landman]Landman - Sep 1, 2003 3:28 pm (#5 of 1030) Reply
Edited Sep 1, 2003 4:29 pm

Hey Tim,

<Middle-aged Harry Potter fan> I guess you're planning on living a long time... (I'm in the same boat, don't worry.)

I agree with you that Harry connects with her because he could just as easily be Loony Harry, he is just not sure what to make of her willingness to accept that. I think she will help him to accept himself and get over this anger and bitterness that he has.

[Snape, Gina R]Gina R Snape - Sep 1, 2003 3:39 pm (#6 of 1030) Reply

Well, I think first of all, throughout most of OoP the wizarding world thought Harry was Loony Harry.

I really liked Luna, and I think she brings a couple of things to Harry which his other friends don't. The first is a certain amount of trust in the world, or at least in the idea that you don't always have to charge off into battle when there are other ways of dealing with things. Secondly, I think she offers Harry a kind of spirituality. She sees/believes in/hears things related to spiritual things. Hermione, in contrast, can't or won't. Hermione is concrete and factual. Luna and Harry share being able to see the thestrals and hearing the voices beyond the veil. She lost her mother, like Harry did. But she has found a way to be ok with it. Harry can learn from her loss. She comforts and accepts thngs in him others don't. And, sometimes you just need that. No proof of something existing, or way of explaining, or joking the problem away, or even fighting. Just being. Luna is very much that kind of person.

Oh, and I like Luna's choices in accessorizing--butterbeer caps and radish earrings sound cool!

Brave ol' Neville - Sep 1, 2003 6:23 pm (#7 of 1030) Reply

I think there is as difinate romance coming in the 6th book. At the end Harry felt sorry for her and understood how she felt. I think her role in the next book will be a big one. She it seems she can comfort and understand Harry better than anyone else. And at the time Harry needs this because Sirius is dead.

rettoP yrraH - Sep 1, 2003 8:06 pm (#8 of 1030) Reply

I do these by copying each user name and using Find/Replace to paste the codes on it wherever it appears in that file. By the time I'm quarter way through most of the names are done, but it still takes a long time for me. How are the rest of you formatting these?

Julia, no need to iron your hands! I really think the order of the threads doesnt matter at all. BTW, I've finished formatting the DH chapters folder, and I tried to use your way of formatting for uniformity.

[Potteraholic]

Mona, I think you're right... 36 threads may be too ambitious, esp. since I have the same problem with the 10 threads I'm formatting now. Before, there used to be lines between posts in the .txt documents I received, like this:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

which made it much easier to FIND/REPLACE them and add [*hr][*hr][*b] (no*) which was my code for separating posts. Now I have to do the same thing you're doing. Maybe I'll need John's Excel shortcut sheet after all, but to be honest, I'm not sure I'd know how to use it.

What I think I'm going to do is save the other 8 threads as one document, so that I can do all that in one doc, then split them up again. I'll see how that goes.

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