# Obsessive Harry Potter People **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408 "2007-07-19T16:18:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/41 "2007-07-19T20:27:02Z")
[QUOTE=Amazon Floozy Goddess] That’s probably one of the main reasons why I’ve avoided Harry Potter altogether. I avoid other mega-popular things for the same reason. I really don’t like the herd mentality of it all. [/QUOTE] Man are people in this thread being condescending. “Herd Mentality”. Right. Thanks for implying that everyone who truly enjoys the HP series because, I dunno, it’s, gee, maybe, GOOD; is just some kind of sheep. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/42 "2007-07-19T20:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Well, couldn’t you just, I dunno, avoid those threads that annoy you? Or are these Potter fanatics making you go in there at gun point? [/QUOTE] Likewise, how hard would it be for the HP fans to just not open any threads about the new HP book without the mods having to make a sticky about it. You’d think the title was “Harry Potter and the Free Crack and Hookers”. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/43 "2007-07-19T20:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] Likewise, how hard would it be for the HP fans to just not open any threads about the new HP book without the mods having to make a sticky about it. You’d think the title was “Harry Potter and the Free Crack and Hookers”. [/QUOTE] I think we can all agree, pro-HP and anti-, that there should _be_ a “Harry Potter and the Free Crack and Hookers.” ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/44 "2007-07-19T20:44:08Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] Likewise, how hard would it be for the HP fans to just not open any threads about the new HP book without the mods having to make a sticky about it. You’d think the title was “Harry Potter and the Free Crack and Hookers”. [/QUOTE] I’d buy that book. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/45 "2007-07-19T20:52:37Z")
There is a certain disreputable theater nearby on whose marquee I would not be at all surprised to see _Hairy Shitter and the Odor of the Penis_ featured, sometime in the near future. It remains to be seen whether Rowling herself will participate in or sanction the production, though. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/46 "2007-07-19T20:58:15Z")
I too hate it when people like things. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/47 "2007-07-19T21:24:58Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] I’d buy that book. [/QUOTE] As long as you don’t give away the ending. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/48 "2007-07-19T21:27:11Z")
I’m not getting too involved in the HP mania, but I do plan to get the book very soon, so as not to take the chance on it getting spoiled before I can read it. But what I really came in to say was, now you know how I feel around Superbowl time. Breathe, live through it, and laugh. At least you don’t have to deal with it **every single year**. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/49 "2007-07-19T21:28:35Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] As long as you don’t give away the ending. [/QUOTE] Of course not, but the next book after it is _Harry Potter and the Very Large Overly Affectionate Cellmate At Azkaban Federal Penitentiary_. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/50 "2007-07-19T21:32:01Z")
> [@](#): > > See, I read Shoshana’s post as saying “Can we please not discuss the spoliers in that other thread” That’s correct. I don’t care whether people want to post spoilers in a thread designated for discussion of the book, but I don’t want to open a thread that is about **not posting spoilers** to find spoilers and coy discussion of spoilers in it. I said “please,” and frankly I don’t care what the current OP thinks. I don’t spoil things other people care about; I don’t complain about subjects not of interest to me that other people discuss obsessively on this board; and I’ll see all of you again on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/51 "2007-07-19T21:37:06Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] Likewise, how hard would it be for the HP fans to just not open any threads about the new HP book without the mods having to make a sticky about it. [/QUOTE] Too be sure…which, though I wouldn’t consider myself a HUGE fan of the HP series, is why I haven’t wandered into ANY of those threads. Of course, you’d have to take it up with the Mods as far as why a sticky is required for something that, afaik, is a CS board rule (i.e. no open spoilers unless specified in the OP). [QUOTE=Duke of Rat] You’d think the title was “Harry Potter and the Free Crack and Hookers”. [/QUOTE] How exactly are you using the term ‘Free Crack’ there exactly??? I can think of several interpretations that might, um, fit… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/52 "2007-07-19T21:46:19Z")
[QUOTE=CynicalGabe] You would have been safer pitting fat people, people who drive too slow, and liberals. [/QUOTE] Just the other day, I got stuck in a no-passing zone behind a Volvo with a Kucinich bumper sticker doing fifteen below the speed limit. When I finally had a chance to get past this bozo, I looked over and saw that the tub of lard behind the steering wheel was reading some Harry Potter book instead of keeping his eyes on the road… ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/53 "2007-07-19T21:56:55Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] So you’re saying that all mysteries should tell you the name of the killer on the dust jacket? All romances should contain the Cliff Notes summary on the dedication page? That the Lord of the Rings would have been a better novel if Tolkien had called it “The Book Where Gandalf Appears to Die, But Doesn’t Really?” If so, then I guess you just don’t understand why people read literature. [/QUOTE] Do you read literature just for the plot? There’s a lot more to a work of art like a film or book than what happens at the end. Anyway, nobody was saying the end should be revealed in the dust jacket. Just that knowing the end in advance shouldn’t necessarily ruin the experience if there’s any artistry involved in the work. I read a lot of spoilers, and they only ruin my experience when I know about a surprise twist that’s just a twist for its own sake. Those don’t hold up to multiple readings or viewings anyway. If the book/film is well-written, the characters are well-drawn, the themes interesting, then knowing what happens in advance doesn’t ruin it for me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/54 "2007-07-19T22:28:49Z")
[QUOTE=carterba] Just that knowing the end in advance shouldn’t necessarily ruin the experience if there’s any artistry involved in the work. [/QUOTE] Ruin, no. Diminish, yes. And for some works more than others. Surely you know it’s not an all-or-nothing thing! ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/55 "2007-07-19T22:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=carterba] Do you read literature just for the plot? [/quote] Good question, because everybody knows there’s only one kind of literature. Sheesh. It should be obvious that some subcategories of literature do deliberately create a certain suspense, or that some films are designed to be seen on the big screen, or some art is meant to be seen on a grand fifty-foot canvas and not on the back of a milk carton. I want to see this particular piece of literature unfold as the artist intended it, word by word, without foreknowledge. Not everyone does that, or cares to, but I do. I resent the idea that someone who _doesn’t_ understand that personally would take it upon himself to go to great lengths to take away that opportunity. A cake is just a bunch of grains and coloring mixed and baked in a certain way with some eggs and vanilla and sugar cane, so it should be _exactly the same_ to eat the raw ingredients. But I think presentation counts, so I would rather have the cake with all the frosting than a bowl full of ingredients and a recipe. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/56 "2007-07-19T23:02:32Z")
[QUOTE=T\_SQUARE] I mean, we all know how Gatsby, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Huck Finn, Dick, etc. end; that doesn’t make them less enjoyable, to me at least. [/QUOTE] What happed at the end of _Dick_? Did it involve a painful discharge? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/57 "2007-07-19T23:17:53Z")
Ahab went down on the enormous Dick. He couldn’t breathe and it killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/58 "2007-07-19T23:33:32Z")
[QUOTE=5que] What happed at the end of _Dick_? Did it involve a painful discharge? [/QUOTE] Painful for [him](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144168/) maybe, but a relief for the rest of the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/59 "2007-07-19T23:34:25Z")
I think one reason people are being so paranoid about spoilers is that with the last book release two years ago, the end had a big twist. There were many incidents, even at the big release parties, where people shouted out the big twist just to be a jerk. Even if I thought Harry Potter was the lamest thing in the world, to intentionally spoil it for other people is even lamer. If you get your jollies out of ruining something for other people, even if you hate that particular something, then frankly something’s wrong with you. As has been mentioned, this isn’t the only obessive fandom that’s crossed these boards. It seems every week there’s a whole new set of Joss Whedon worshipping threads. In every “what’s your favorite…” poll thread, there is always a dozen mentions of an episode of Buffy or Firefly. I don’t really like Buffy and I’ve only seen a couple episodes of Firefly, so I’m not a big fan of either of them. But I suck it up; why should I care if they like something I don’t? If it became a hip trend to yell out spoilers to the latest Buffy or Firefly, I would be really annoyed, even if it didn’t impact me personally. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408/60 "2007-07-20T00:11:32Z")
I’m not going to wax rhapsodic about the quality of Potter books because while I do like them, they’re not the most awesome stuff I’ve ever read. If you start bitching about Pratchett threads, though… 😃 Look. This is the last book. You never have to worry about a release party again. The most you’ll have to fill your miserable life (third shift on a computer? Either some form of customer service or NOC admin, and I don’t envy you either way) with vitriol is the occasional movie. I’m sure you can find something else at which to spit acid before the year’s out. What would your life mean otherwise? I’ll leave all my arguments of “it’s oddly compelling for a children’s book” and similar for someone who can hear me through the flaps of his ass around his ears. I’ll just feel pleased that while you’re stewing and simmering in front of your computer tomorrow night, I’ll be in a crowd of people both young and old excited about buying A BOOK. How could anyone have predicted that a dozen years ago? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-harry-potter-people/412408.md?page=4)