# Harry Potter 7 hacked? Or marketting ploy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827 "2007-06-21T09:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/1 "2007-06-21T09:35:43Z")
I’m not going to link to the article directly, for obvious reasons, but it’s on the Inquirer if you want to find it. Someone is claiming to have hacked into Bloomsbury and got hold of HP7. They have posted some significant details. Now colour me cynical, but could this just be a marketting ploy? Something to remind people that the book is out next month? Consider that it’s made me post this thread. Please can we avoid discussing the specific plot contents of the alleged leak. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/2 "2007-06-21T10:29:51Z")
First, they don’t need a marketing trick like this to get attention. HP7 is getting the biggest send off in publishing history and trying to get attention by pretending to leak information would just be silly. I’d be very dubious about the claim but it’s not impossible. If someone did obtain a copy of the text then they have several options for feeding their ego which are better than posting on some plot points on the web. That’s easily faked; large chunks of text, seeding the whole thing to bittorrent sites, or providing the text to bootleggers who could make a fortune printing and selling copies weeks in advance would be a lot harder to reasonably fake. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/3 "2007-06-21T11:07:28Z")
What kind of lowlife would leak details of a book that people find real joy from reading and uncovering the story for themselves? If it’s real, they’ll track them down and chain them to a wall. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/4 "2007-06-21T11:13:27Z")
I suppose one way to determine the veracity would be whether betting shops still take bets on who - if anyone - dies. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/5 "2007-06-21T14:00:01Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Now colour me cynical, but could this just be a marketting ploy? Something to remind people that the book is out next month? [/QUOTE] I doubt it. The actual message (which I’ll refrain from linking to not to give away anything- even if it does turn out to be false) features a reference to Pope Benedict XVI’s comment (before he became Pope) that Harry Potter was harmful to young Christians, as well as a link to an article about how most Muslims don’t really know what the Koran says (of course, the same thing could be said about most Christians and the Bible, but that’s another debate entirely). If this “Gabriel” is an actual person, he is one of those people who believes that Harry Potter opens the gateway to witchcraft and Satanism. I don’t think the publishers would want people to think about that, or post a link that denounces another religion. > [@Quartz](#): > > I suppose one way to determine the veracity would be whether betting shops still take bets on who - if anyone - dies. I remember reading an article saying that British betting houses were so sure that Harry was going to die, that they stopped taking bets on which character would die and were taking bets on who kills Harry instead. (I _can_ tell you that “Gabriel” claims that Harry survives, so if it is true, a lot of bettors will be angry at the change.) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/6 "2007-06-21T17:21:50Z")
From [here](http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d7477f54-a28d-4307-9e37-3866f3c53beb&&Headline=Hacker+puts+Harry+Potter+plot+online): > [@](#): > > “The attack strategy was the easiest one. It’s amazing to see how much people inside the company have copies and drafts of this book,” the Telegraph quoted him, as saying. Copies, I can understand, especially so close to the release date, but drafts? Doesn’t J.K. Rowling need to go through the editing process before she gets to the publisher’s house? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/7 "2007-06-21T17:28:36Z")
I started another thread on this before I saw this one. Hopefully the mods will shut mine down but I’ll paste some of my OP here. “Gabriel” appears to be – or at least is pretending to be – some kind of religious nutbag who thinks Harry Potter is evil. Here is what he gives as his motive: > [@](#): > > “We did it by following the precious words of the great Pope Benedict XVI when he still was Cardinal Josepth [sic] Ratzinger. He explained why Harry Potter bring the youngs [sic] of our earth to Neo Paganism faith. So we make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring.” So yeah, nutcase, but I think it’s strange that Scholastic won’t comment on whether the spoilers are true. I think refusing to deny them gives me more pause than I would normally have about dismissing some blowhard hacker’s claim on the internet. After reading the spoilers, though (and after reading Gabriel’s stated motives), I think the spoilers are probably bullshit. For anyone who is interested, [this](http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2007/Jun/0380.html) is the link to Gabriel’s post at [Insecure.org](http://Insecure.org). And these are the alleged spoilers: > [@](#): > > [spoiler]Dear my brothers, > > Voldemort killed Hermione. Yes, that’s true. And we knew that 2 days ago. > > This is the end of the not yet published (someone could call that 0day) book > > ``` > Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . > > ``` > > At the end of the story Hagrid was killed by Snape in the attempt of ambush Hermione and Ron. > Ron and Hermione flees in privet drive but Voldermort, surprising them, engaged a magical duel with Ron and Hermione. > > Voldemort attacked trough the imperius curse and Hermione, to protect the life of Ron fight hardly for more than 6 pages and then finally die. > (boring, very boring… it’s always the same story!) > > Then, to make a long story short, Harry came up, killed all the bad guys and Hogwarts against became a good place to stay and have fun. > > Ah, i missed one important information about Draco Malfoy, he started to create Horcrux (for fun and profit!). > The end.[/spoiler] Looking over the spoilers again, I’m even more convinced they’re bullshit. They just don’t sound anything like what Rowling would do with these characters and the denouement contains no real information. I kind of wish Scholastic would just SAY the spoilers are bullshit but maybe they think the publicity is good. I don’t know. Looking over the spoilers again, I’m even more convinced they’re bullshit. They just don’t sound anything like what Rowling would do with these characters and the denouement contains no real information. I kind of wish Scholastic would just SAY the spoilers are bullshit but maybe they think the publicity is good. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/8 "2007-06-21T17:37:18Z")
Having read the supposed “spoilers,” I don’t believe it for a second. The plot as described would make no sense given the direction of the story across all previous installments, and be extremely unsatisfying to fans. Honestly, if Rowling turned in such a manuscript I think Scholastic would tell her to go home and come back when she had the _real_ book written. (The first few days of sales would be great no matter what was published, yes, but Scholastic has paperback reprints, the future movies, box ssets, etc, to motivate them to make sure the last book is satisfactory.) I imagine that given their own policies on guarding plot details of the books, they can’t confirm or deny the “spoilers.” But I wonder if their inaction is further proof of the hoax - remember when that guy found a copy of, I think, book 5 early? They came down on him like a ton of bricks. If this was legit, they’d be swarming this hacker. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/9 "2007-06-21T18:53:09Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I kind of wish Scholastic would just SAY the spoilers are bullshit but maybe they think the publicity is good. I don’t know. [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t do that if I were Scholastic. Then other characters like Raphael or Michael or Azrael can start posting more and more “spoilers” - Harry gets killed! Voldemort becomes headmaster of Hogwarts! Luna marries Draco! and if Scholastic denies all of those eventually the plot is revealed. If I were them, I would wait until these “spoilers” have more publicity e.g. mentioned in an article in a major newspaper like the L. A. Time before I would bother refuting them. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/10 "2007-06-21T19:15:33Z")
I’d be very surprised if JKR actually wrote what “Gabriel” alleges. It sounds more to me like this guy is just being a huge tool. –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/11 "2007-06-21T19:30:56Z")
Ok, I just hacked Bloomsbury myself and now I can post the real ending. Don’t look if you don’t want to know. Harry, Ron and Ginny are meeting at a diner. They’re waiting for Hermione. Harry puts “Don’t Stop Believing” on the jukebox. They order some onion rings. There’s a wizard in a Members Only robe who keeps looking at Harry. Hermione arrives but she has trouble parallel parking her broom. The onion rings arive. The wizard in the Members Only jacket gets up and goes into the bathroom. Hermione finally gets her broom parked. She enters the diner. Harry looks up ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/12 "2007-06-21T19:35:07Z")
Dio, I knew what your “spoiler” was going to be even before clicking your box to confirm it. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/13 "2007-06-21T19:44:53Z")
I would have believed you, Diogenes the Cynic, if you had replaced “diner” with “Leaky Cauldron”, “onion rings” with “butter beer”, “Members only” with “Madam Malkin’s” and “Don’t Stop Believing” with “A cauldron full of hot, strong love” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/14 "2007-06-21T19:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] I would have believed you, Diogenes the Cynic, if you had replaced “diner” with “Leaky Cauldron”, “onion rings” with “butter beer”, “Members only” with “Madam Malkin’s” and “Don’t Stop Believing” with “A cauldron full of hot, strong love” [/QUOTE] You’re right. I should have made it all more “wizardy.” I suck at parody. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/15 "2007-06-21T19:47:47Z")
Please. We all know that at in HPDH _I_ am introduced as a character and through my heroic exploits win the love and admiration of Tonks. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/16 "2007-06-21T19:49:48Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Please. We all know that at in HPDH _I_ am introduced as a character and through my heroic exploits win the love and admiration of Tonks. [/QUOTE] Hey,\* I\* didn’t know that. Way to spoil the ending for me. ☹ (Why Tonks, out of interest?) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/17 "2007-06-21T20:02:11Z")
**Nymph** adora. _Waggles eyebrow suggestively_ ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/18 "2007-06-21T20:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] (Why Tonks, out of interest?) [/QUOTE] Shapeshifter. Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/19 "2007-06-21T21:23:35Z")
Tonks is the only cool female character over the age of consent. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827/20 "2007-06-21T21:46:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Tonks is the only cool female character over the age of consent. Well, and under the age of menopause. McGonagall is pretty cool, too. Actually, for that matter, Hermione is of age now, too, by the standards of the wizarding community. As for these alleged spoilers, for what this “Gabriel” character is trying to do, fake spoilers and lies would work just as well as real ones. If people don’t read the book, then they won’t know the spoilers were faked, and if they do, he’s failed in his quest anyway. Meanwhile, regardless of the truth or not of the spoiled plot points, or how the spoiler got them if they are true, Scholastic’s best course of action would be to completely ignore this. Anything else would let out even more information, or at least cost them unnecessary time and effort. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-7-hacked-or-marketting-ploy/408827.md?page=2)