No spoilers!
In 11 days, many of us are going to launch into the final Harry Potter book. This is it, the big one, the one where we find out that Obiwan Kenobi is actually Gandalf's step-father... or something like that.
I don't want to know about it ahead of time. I really don't. Maybe you read faster than I do. That doesn't mean you get to ruin the book for me.
So, if I may recommend... Harry Potter and the Anti-Spoiler Protocol.
If you're reading the book, and you're going to say anything about the book, and I mean ANYTHING, you must put it behind an LJ-cut that lists the page number you are currently on.
I don't care if what you're going to say was actually fifty pages earlier, post the page number you're on, because it's all to easy to do something like, "Wow, Ron's innocuous comment on page 241 is a lot more important than I thought." So, declare your full Potter knowledge by stating your current page number. If another reader hasn't gotten that far, they can safely avoid your observation until they reach that point.
If you're making comments on a post and you've read beyond that page.... then don't. Just shut the fuck up.
And to demonstrate...
Spoilers are pure evil. There's no getting around it.
You see, I'm a writer... an author... whatever. I am a story teller. I have great respect for other story tellers, and one of the things I've learned in all these stories is that each person gets to hear the story for the first time only once. They get one shot at it. Only once do their emotions get the full ride. Only once do they nurture hope against all odds. Only once do they feel that utter despair. Only once do they find joy. For ever after, it is merely a retelling.
When you tell them something about the story ahead of time, you rob them of that experience. They'll never get it back. Nothing you do can repair it.
So don't.
And yes, I believe in Snape.
[Update (7/22/07): I have now finished the book.]
I don't want to know about it ahead of time. I really don't. Maybe you read faster than I do. That doesn't mean you get to ruin the book for me.
So, if I may recommend... Harry Potter and the Anti-Spoiler Protocol.
If you're reading the book, and you're going to say anything about the book, and I mean ANYTHING, you must put it behind an LJ-cut that lists the page number you are currently on.
I don't care if what you're going to say was actually fifty pages earlier, post the page number you're on, because it's all to easy to do something like, "Wow, Ron's innocuous comment on page 241 is a lot more important than I thought." So, declare your full Potter knowledge by stating your current page number. If another reader hasn't gotten that far, they can safely avoid your observation until they reach that point.
If you're making comments on a post and you've read beyond that page.... then don't. Just shut the fuck up.
And to demonstrate...
Spoilers are pure evil. There's no getting around it.
You see, I'm a writer... an author... whatever. I am a story teller. I have great respect for other story tellers, and one of the things I've learned in all these stories is that each person gets to hear the story for the first time only once. They get one shot at it. Only once do their emotions get the full ride. Only once do they nurture hope against all odds. Only once do they feel that utter despair. Only once do they find joy. For ever after, it is merely a retelling.
When you tell them something about the story ahead of time, you rob them of that experience. They'll never get it back. Nothing you do can repair it.
So don't.
And yes, I believe in Snape.
[Update (7/22/07): I have now finished the book.]