Planning for chapter-by-chapter HBP discussion community.

[amanuensis1]

All right, it appears that the community for the chapter-by-chapter discussion of HBP has some enthusiasm! Now I need to refine some planning.

It would be nice to have as much participation as people like. There's been a suggestion that we moderate the community membership--to join, people would have to read and say they accept the "Do not spoil anything beyond this point" rules.

Pros: Reduces likelihood of accidental spoilers.

Cons: Does nothing at all to prevent willful spoilers. People might forget anyway or still might not understand the rules. Will turn some off if they can't get immediate membership (even though the community will be in place well before July 16; I know how moderated membership just plain hits people's "nah, why bother" buttons).

Now, whatever is decided, every single chapter's post will have big fat "no spoilers beyond this point" warnings on it, in language which I'll try to make as plain as possible, with input from all who wish to make suggestions.

So. I don't think I'll make this a poll just yet--I'd first like to hear your thoughts. Then I might make a poll later. Or I might just make a decision. So, please, ring in, if you feel passionately.

Moderated membership, or not? Your thoughts.

Comments

[silentauror.livejournal.com]

Take this for what it's worth, considering I probably won't join the comm anyway - and that's only because, once I get my grubby little paws on my copy of HBP, I'm certain to disappear for eight hours and not surface for anything at all until it's finished. I don't think I could be disciplined enough to read at comm speed. But my thoughts are, why don't you just mod/be the only member, just make the first post on each chapter, and then you can screen out possible spoilers/disregards for your no-spoilers warning? If you post, anyone can comment, right? I don't really think commenters would need to have membership status to get what they came for on this one.

Just my two Knuts. Feel free to disregard. :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, it would be nice to have a volunteer staff to be monitoring the community 24/7 for spoilers, but that's not going to happen. The staff would have to include the first people in the world to get the book, and they'd have to read it immediately and scan every comment as it's posted, AND be able to keep everything straight as to the sequence of events. Just not going to work. (But thank you for takin' my request seriously anyway! ^_^)

[smaragdgrun.livejournal.com]

But you wouldn't *have* to read at "comm speed", would you? I mean, you could be the first post in each chapter discussion. Then you could wait around for discussion, or you could keep reading (and be the first post in future chapter discussions). There could be several speedy readers, you never know...

I doubt I'll stop between each and every chapter and go to the site, but when there's something to share/squee, I definitely will! And I look forward to going back to see what clues people catch or don't along the way.

I mean -- I'll be outraged when she introduces yet another major character. Or especially if the HBP isn't someone we already know. But by the end of the book, I may not be so outraged. It'll be interesting to see, eh?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

But if I'm the first poster in each chapter discussion it becomes too much "my" comm, and I want it to be there for everyone! And I won't be one of the first in the world to have it--that'll be the people in Europe, I believe. (Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone.)

When, shortly after finishing the book, I grabbed the local paper's review of the book, I couldn't believe that the critic actually thought Harry and Luna's interaction at the end had romantic potential. And yet she wasn't the only one. It'd be fun to see those reactions to characters as the book goes along!

[smaragdgrun.livejournal.com]

I actually meant the generic "you"... and more specifically, silentauror above, who was saying that she couldn't read at "comm speed".

So what if one person is the first poster in each chapter? Let 'em compete at speed reading, if they want to...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, generic "you"! Sorry, I completely missed it. Yes, makes sense.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

You (we) could pre-emptively make a post for every chapter & then close the community to posts... The way only the comments go + no one would have to worry about being first or whatnot...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm planning. Make a post for every chapter well in advance. And if I can't get the official number of chapters, I'll make more than are likely to be needed and then delete the ones that turn out not to have existing chapters.

Well...

[ex-leianora730.livejournal.com]

for what it's worth, I think it'd be a good idea for it to just stay unmoderated, that way people could say whatever they wanted. I've seen in so many places where people say, put spoilers behind a cut, I think it's almost universally understood, so if someone decides to blather on a bit, they can do so behind a cut, and if another person reads it, it's their decision, not the mod's, or the original author's, see what I mean?

Re: Well...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Mmm...yes and no. All comments will be "behind the cut," so to speak, as the post itself is the "above the cut" spot, with the warnings and all. And anyone looking at the comments can see all the comments, where there are no cuts--so, if someone posts a spoilery comment, anyone who looks will see it, until a mod finds out about it and deletes it.

And comments wouldn't be moderated--just membership to the community. Once you're in, you're in.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

Moderated membership is probably not necessary. As you say, the only "public" post would be the main header & then it's a question of browsing through the comments and taking the risk that some evil bastard has snuck some inappropriate spoilers for future chapters in (maybe make sure to have plenty of members with the power to delete such comments on hand?).

I do think membership should be open, though (unlike silentauror suggests), as it's quite nice to see who else is around. Commutity reading speed may just turn out to be community speed-reading, anyway :) It'll be nice to see what other people think as they go along.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, the whole community is at risk for spoilers, just like the whole internet would be at risk. Which is why I understand the "stay away from the whole internet until I'm done reading" impulse--it's what I did last time!

[revena.livejournal.com]

I suppose I think that people who are disinclined to wait a little while to become members of a community might -also- be the sort of people with low enough impulse control that they don't remember not to spoil/read the rules in the first place. So I guess I'd say that, especially if you set the comm up well in advance, moderated membership might be a good idea.

But I'll join up regardless. :-D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

There's food for thought in that, certainly! ^_^

[deliciouspear.livejournal.com]

I'm against moderated membership in general, but I don't really have a reason I can articulate.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I know what you're talking about. One loses participation once moderation comes in to the picture.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I will have a poll that has two choices: "I'd like to join the comm, but I'm not likely to if there's moderated membership." "I'd like to join the comm, but I'm not likely to if there ISN'T moderated membership."

Or perhaps I'll just have to weigh the pros and cons and decide. ^_~

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

Well, I like the idea of trying to enforce some order on what's certain to be a wonderfully chaotic space. On the other hand, if the comm becomes too organized it saps the spontaneity that makes the whole idea so much fun in the first place... you know, reading something in HBP and then suddenly deciding you just have to talk to others about it.

I think keeping each chapter as a separate entry with warnings about possible spoilerage (i.e. don't go here unless you've read this chapter or don't mind being spoiled), could be a happy medium. Anyone who enters into a book discussion community expecting it to be hermetically sealed and wholly safe is just cruising for a bruising, man. Enter at your own risk. Risk is fun! Mostly.

[smaragdgrun.livejournal.com]

um, LOVE your icon. just sayin'.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Risk for spoilers scares me silly--I know it can't be completely risk-free but I'd like to make it as close to accidental spoilerage risk-free as possible. Anybody can come by and be a jerk, if the mood hits them...

You know what? I'll probably go through all this worry and some bozo in line at the Barnes and Noble will probably shout something out before I even start the book. Snort.

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

"....dude! And then they ALL died!"

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

I think this is a nice idea. The chapter-by-chapter discussion sounds great.
I didn't know that people are turned off by moderated membership, actually. Personally, I have nothing against it. I don't know, I've always found that rather cool... like becoming a part of a more exclusive club, even if there are 1500 members. ;-) Not logical, I know.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No, it's logical! Exclusivity can have such a lure. ^_^

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

Indeed it can. *grins*

I'm not so afraid of spoilers actually, but the possibility of discussion what I've just read with others... that is very interesting and feels as if it could bring me into the fandom more properly. I usually just hang around on the fringes, but that might make me speak up more and voice my opinions too. :-)

And I just have to say that your icon makes me smile. I find myself wanting to obey and write him some yummy smutfics. *g*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

The icon is PLEASED.

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

I don't have any experience on lj communities since I'm still fairly new here but the moderated membership sounds better to me if it reduces the likelihood of spoilers. Perhaps it could also make people be more responsible about what they post. I really dread the possibility of coming upon spoilers, either major or minor. As for a poll, I think I trust your judgement better than the results of a poll, and I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying that.

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

I trust your judgement better than the results of a poll

Know what? I'll second that.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think the idea of it making people more responsible might be worth the attrition rate for those who are put off by such things. Gotta be a compromise in there somewhere.

I did get your email and I'm trying to compose a reply worthy of it! :-D

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

Compose a reply?

*blushes* Oh my god, you're so sweet, that little comment just made my night.

[moriann.livejournal.com]

No matter which option you will choose it won't eliminate the possibility of spoilers. There will probably be someone who will forget to read the rules or get a bit overenthusiastic. We'd just have to hope and pray the anti-spoiler warnings hold.

Maybe there should be an additional post where all those spoiler-happy could discuss without creating threat for the others to stumble across something unintentionally?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

That would be the post for the last chapter, heh. I'm beginning to thing that doing something to block anonymous posting, at the least, would block at least those people who are trolls and don't want to be traced.

[aux.livejournal.com]

I love being spoiled. I can't imagine that I won't know who's died before I get home from the shop.

I best steer clear of the comm, lest I be the tit who accidentally lets it drop, Tourret's-like.

Good luck! X :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

You would be in suuuuuuuch trouble! I would be forced to shun you. Nobody wants that! ^_^

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

There's already a community called a_chapter_a_day where people are discussing Books 1-5 before HBP is released. We've already started GOF (I think we're on chapter 3 or 4 now). I'm unsure whether ACAD is going to discuss HBP; if so, I suspect they would probably wait until maybe July 23 before discussing it. You could ask the mods there what they are planning to do.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know! The idea here is that this community wouldn't wait until July 23rd, nor would it go by days. Readers could go as fast as they like in their reading and pop in at the post of whatever chapter they're at to see if others are about who want to squeal, speculate, etc., before going on to the next chapter. So it sounds like they're not redundant communities.

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Just reiterating why my preference is for a stated "opt in" before anyone has access to the chapter posts - it doesn't guarantee spoilers won't be dropped, but they won't be able to claim ignorance after the fact. Either way, I'm sure it will be fun!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Reiteration is good! I am thinking it is likely I will do something--maybe as little as blocking anonymous posters and maybe as much as making people send a "Yes, I agree" email before membership is approved.

[capslock-harry.livejournal.com]

PEOPLE ALWAYS MAKE UP LISTS OF PEOPLE THEY WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH AND READ BOOKS WITH AND I'M NEVER ON THEM11!!!!!!! THEY'RE ALL LIKE YOU'RE THE BOY WHO LIVED YOU DON'T NEED TO READ BOOKS YOU CAN GO PLAY WITH THE GIANT SQUID AND HAVE DRACO MOON YOU AGAIN but I don't want to and anyway WHY DO PEOPLE ALWAYS LEAVE ME OUT OF THINGS AND NEVER TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON????!1!!!!?

IT'S NOT FAIR!1!!!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Now, now, Harry, no one is leaving anyone out. You have email, don't you? And you can click "join community" buttons, yes? See, it will all work out right in the end. ^_^

[e-dork.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just not getting something, but why do people need to join at all? Are the posts going to be flocked so only members can read/post comments? If not then the only reason I see for membership is to give some people power to delete spoiler comments.

That said though, I have no problem with moderated membership, especially since you plan to let people apply well before July 16.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No, one option would be to have a completely open community, where no membership is necessary for viewing, commenting, posting, etc. Though at this point I'm seriously thinking about at least blocking anonymous comments in order to block the trolls who don't want to be found. At least this way trolls would have to admit who they are!

[galaxynumber5.livejournal.com]

I may be too late in this, but I think it's better to have less members, what with the closed membership issue, then to have spoilers. Also it may be a good idea to have a fair number of people who will be reading fast (say, the opposite of myself) and with mod access, that way more than one person will be reading the discussions and making sure that no spoilers are posted.
Also it'll probably be a good idea to let the members know that if they saw a spoiler they need to run to a mod, not post publicly about it first, and sure as hell not to spoil others while they're doing that.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Very good point, about not building upon a spoiler by posting publicly! I should incorporate something about that in the info. And I am leaning more towards some sort of moderated-community-joining as time goes on.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Did you set this up yet? Because some people on HPfGU are asking for hte URL...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

It is in the last planning stages! I should have it together by this weekend. End of the weekend, I mean.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

: does a drive by squeeing