Tunbridge Wells calling

[woman_ironing]

Barack Obama has been elected, the Bank of England has reduced interest rates, Labour have won the Glenrothes by-election, but I’m going to have a moan about an obscure lj Harry Potter community, deathtocapslock.

Comments

[merrymelody]

Personally, if I hated something that much I'd just sling my hook and do something else.

Applies just as much to people compelled to seek out negative reactions to series they adore. If woman_ironing doesn't like DTCL, maybe she shouldn't read it, rather than posting anonymous whiny comments in it.
This is a post doing to DTCL exactly what DTCL does to HP.

[travisprinzi]

This is a post doing to DTCL exactly what DTCL does to HP.

No, it's not. It's just one post pointing out one problem one time, and graciously at that. It's not an incessant diatribe with no real conversation.

Who knows if I've run into any specific deathtocapslock members in my discussions, but I ran into enough who are of the mindset that woman_ironing describes that I've dropped out of most LJ HP conversations, because they're never actually "conversations." It gets frustrating, because instead of having a conversation, even one where we still disagree at the end, accusations of Rowling-worship and other nonsense get tossed around.

Don't know if that happens specifically at DTCL. I've encountered it a lot around LJ HP discussions, though.

[merrymelody]

I beg to disagree.
The post is hardly seeking different ideas, it's a very clearly stated opinion (your 'oozing with bitterness and spite' is someone else's 'wit') - woman_ironing herself called it a 'moan'.

I wouldn't call it particularly gracious to brand members 'hysteric(al)' or 'absurd', either, and the fact that woman_ironing has previously commented anonymously to the community isn't any more proof of her manners.

I've dropped out of most LJ HP conversations

Sounds like you have the right idea. Like I said above, 'if you don't like, don't read' cuts both ways.

[merrymelody]

I don't know, man, you're the one with woman_ironing friended. That's a cry for help if ever I heard one.

[merrymelody]

Speaking of tl;dr...

Aw, someone feels a little entitled themselves? Wah, people are making me feel stupid for being incapable of enjoying writing more complicated than a mediocre children's series! I better make sure the entire internet agrees with me!

I'm sorry you've clearly been obsessing about me for some time and I still have no idea who you are.

My birthyear's in my profile, though, I would think that by your age you'd have learned how to count if not yet how to read.
When this starts to describe you, it might be time to log off, though.

On behalf of the Batley Townswomen's Guild ...

[woman_ironing]

Ladies!

Don't let slinkhard wind you up, zoe p. - I'll catch up with her later! :) (Too much housework at present.)

[woman_ironing]

I think maybe you’ve forgotten - as I had - that I’ve been barred from The Deathtocapslock Arms. By some fluke of lj, my comment was posted as anon. I tried to comment again in my name, which was when I rediscovered that I’m not allowed. I decided to leave it as it was

[sistermagpie]

But death2 is a sort of epitome of an attitude to HP which - from my experience anyway - dominates on lj, and which (as travisprinzi said) puts a stop to real consideration of the series.Okay, wait, because this is something that gets close a pet peeve of mine, which is where certain things are labelled "not real discussion" in a way that I think is arbitrary

[woman_ironing]

I didn’t mean to say that deathtocapslock puts a stop to discussion, and I wasn’t trying to say that some topics are okay to be discussed and some aren’t. Sorry to have given that impression. I was trying to say death2 epitomises an attitude that, in my experience, dominates lj, and that this attitude puts a stop to real consideration of the series on lj. The attitude is that HP failed, and that’s that. Any other view is unimaginable, and to express another view, or even the possibility of another view, is to invite attack. At the same time, I feel, this attitude is what sustains - or at least helps to sustain - deathtocapslock’s minute shredding of HP. Perhaps I’m being a bit over the top here, but the people on lj who hold HP to be a failure are very strong about it, as though HP failed them personally. This may be why proposing that HP didn’t fail provokes such personal reaction, and also why there is a commitment to picking its failure to tiny pieces

[montavilla]

I was trying to say death2 epitomises an attitude that, in my experience, dominates lj, and that this attitude puts a stop to real consideration of the series on lj. The attitude is that HP failed, and that’s that.
Au contraire! There's nothing "that's that" about failure. That's what's so interesting to discuss. :)

And dominates? Really? I don't survey all LJ, so I don't know what the squee/whine ratio is. I know that there's pretty of ongoing squeeing at the "official" sites (like Leaky Cauldron). It surprises me that there wouldn't be a sizeable squeeing presence on lj, too. But perhaps it's because success is really more "that's that" than failure. With failure, the fascination is to know why something failed. But with success, there's not that much to say other than, "Cool!"

I wouldn't say that on Death2CapsLock there isn't any dissenting opinion. I opined something a couple weeks ago (can't remember what) and people certainly felt free to tell me I was wrong. Oh... maybe I was being attack? Didn't feel that way.

[sistermagpie]

The attitude is that HP failed, and that’s that. Any other view is unimaginable, and to express another view, or even the possibility of another view, is to invite attack.

It depends on who you're speaking to. There are groups of people with exactly the opposite view, where to express the view that it failed is to open onesself for attack. There are groups specifically for tearing apart complaints. There were plenty of people on my flist who liked and still like DH and wrote about it without being attacked.

There are reasonable people in the middle who think you should be able to say either without being attacked. (I'd say that separate communities for the two is at least one solution for this. Even people who think both sides have valid opinions might sometimes prefer to talk to people starting with the same idea to begin with. Sometimes you just want to squee too.)

This may be why proposing that HP didn’t fail provokes such personal reaction, and also why there is a commitment to picking its failure to tiny pieces.I'm not sure

[woman_ironing]

I’d say HP’s emphasis is on humanity rather than morality. The conflict that’s going on for Harry - and for Dumbledore, and Snape, and Draco - is between love and power. (I talked about this in my comment in deathtocapslock.) If they’re involved in a battle against evil - and I guess they are because Voldemort is evil and he threatens them all, including his supporters - it’s a battle between humanity and evil. Voldemort is evil, the rest of them are human. I don’t know if you think this is shallow, sistermagpie, or if either of you think it's untenable. It does mean that the opponents of Voldemort - as they represent humanity rather than good - won’t always behave well and be in the right, and that his followers - as they represent humanity too - won’t always behave badly and be in the wrong. This is what we see in the series, isn’t it

[anonymous]

And shrieking like a nine-year-old because someone states a valid opinion about a bunch of pathetic entitlement whores ain't?

Something else I've never entirely understood is the phrase "entitlement whore".

Surely if one feels that one is entitled so something, one should not feel the need to prostitute onself for it.

- Dan Hemmens