Well, that’s sort of why I thought we’d try to keep spoiler posts in one thread, so people won’t start new threads like that. I’m hoping that common courtesy will prevail here, but… I don’t see any control over such thread titles, except that mods will kill them when we see them (or have them reported to us.)
I just hope they keep all the spoilers in that one thread until I get through the last book. First all I have to do is read the other six…
I have a raid with my World of Warcraft Guild this Saturday. This means that we all wait around in front of the haunted tower for everyone to show up. A large group of other partially formed raiding parties will certainly be there as well. I’m scared to death that someone will be yelling out spoilers. I think I’ll log off the night before inside the tower, where no on but my group can talk to me.
Stupidest HP question in the world: do I go to the bookstore Friday at 11:45pm or Saturday at 11:45pm? Sorry to be so moronic, but I am confused. (I may wait until Saturday or Sunday morning–midnight is past my bedtime these days).
Whichever it is–I am getting excited! So are my teens, who in the past have informed me that they are too old for HP. 
I remember someone being banned for reading a Potter book the night it came out and then posting without spoilers.
On the Barnes&Noble home page, it says “You’re invited! Midnight Magic Party, Friday, July 20” so it is indeed FRIDAY evening that you should go.
I’m taking a nap when I get home from work on Friday, otherwise midnight would be too late for me, too.
I’m in a similar situation, and yesterday I was freaking out just a little bit, but then I decided just to assume that any spoilers I hear/see are not necessarily true. Either Harry’s dead or he isn’t, etc., but we’ll each have to read the book ourselves to find out for sure.
So if [del]some asshole[/del] somebody says to me, “Harry dies, no really he does, I just finished the book,” I’m just going to assume that they’re yanking me.
Only safe approach, IMHO.
I’ve already read the first 12 chapters from the leaked copy (chapters 1-10 were already typed up by somebody, and they’re definitely legit), but no way am I going anywhere near that spoiler thread until I finish the whole thing. I’m trying to get the book finished before the release date just be sure that nobody spoils ME on it. It wasn’t much fun reading book 6 already knowing the big surprise at the end, before I’d even read 1 page.
Grr. The person who lent me book 6 spoiled it for me as they handed me the fucking thing. And they were being nice enough to lend it to me. It was their husband who had read it and who was the reader so he would have known not to spoil it, but she just didn’t get why I suddenly went from this 
to this :mad:.
I am the **Anti-Mika **here. Spoilers mean little to me. Very often, in a mystery, or whodunit, I’ll read the first chapter, then skim quickly over the last few pages to see who’s still alive, or see how this thing turned out.
Doesn’t spoil the enjoyment of the story for me at all - I knew how 6 ended before I finished 5, and I still loved it. In fact, sometimes, knowing where the story will end up helsp me keep an eye out for subtle things, clues, hints and the like that I might have missed if i was just reading on.
I’m guessing that when UPS shows up with 7, I’ll start the thing, then kind of check out the end, then finish the thing.
But I’ll behave here, Scouts Honor. 
I was…oh, probably 28 or 29 before I was able to look up the ending of a book I was in the middle of to see if it was worth finishing or not. That’s right, 2 or 3 years ago at most. I now do it occasionally but rarely. And I still have a guilty twinge whenever I do it, though it’s caused me to avoid some shitty books and read some that were only shitty for the moment.
I sometimes peek too, but I’ve promised myself not to on this one. The book is being shipped to my mom’s house; I might have her open it and tell me if the last word is indeed “scar,” as advertised (after warning her not to tell me anything else about what’s on the last page!!!).
NEVER MIND.
If you’re implying that I have now spoiled the entire book for you, I apologize. But that tidbit was released (by JKR herself) months ago and has been all over the news. We even had a thread about it last November in which posters were invited to make up possible last lines of the book ending with [that word]. And I don’t really see how it could possibly be a spoiler.
ETA: But if mods would like to redact it, go ahead.
I can spare you the trouble (mild spoilers for the last word only)J. K. Rowling said in a recent interview that the last word isn’t “scar” anymore, although it was in her earlier drafts.
EDIT: Here’s a cite for the above ultra-mild spoiler.
I was, as a matter of fact. But I removed my comment because it’s my own problem that I don’t even want to see the tiniest spoiler. And you certainly didn’t spoil the whole book for me.
I avoided that thread last year, too. And I’m not blaming you or criticizing you one bit…but I still wish I hadn’t read that. Does that make sense?
See, Tim did it too, but he spoiler-boxed his. I have no problem avoiding spoiler boxes. It’s just that in writing my eyes often read faster than I can stop…so by the time I had read what it was going to be, I had already read what it was.
ETA: It may have been all over the news but I managed to avoid it all the same! I really try hard to avoid any news re HP.
Friday at 11:45pm. Saturday at 11:45p if you want to avoid the crowds. 
I called Borders today. He said the party starts about 8:30p, with the books going on sale to the people who pre-ordered them at 12:01a. If you haven’t pre-ordered, you have to wait until everyone who did got their book, *then * you can get one, and chances are they will have enough. He said you may have to wait as late as 2am for that.
I see me leaving after work today to go pre-order this book. I plan to ask if they will be imposing any spoiler rules with the crowd…my children have already solemnly swore that loads of geeks would be jumping on the offender who dared do such a thing. Hee hee Shodan…if only!
Anaamika: I have to admit that I did get to wondering why you were even in here, or online for that matter, if you were that sensitive to any information about the book. Glad to hear that we seem to be copacetic. I honestly did not intend to spoil, and I truly know nothing about the plot. (Am enjoying the crazy speculations in another thread, though! As far as I’m concerned it’s a total crapshoot.)
I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to be antsy enough by Saturday night (when I’m through with the day’s gig) to want to stop off in Madison and pick up a copy at one of the big bookstores (rather than wait until Sunday to go pick up the one I had shipped). Wonder if they’ll have any left by 6 pm or so? Hard to imagine. Then again, I might want to steer clear of bookstores and stay in my self-imposed cocoon until I have it in my hot little hands.
Yeah, I have to think that any such jerk would promptly get the ever-loving snot beat out of him.
Well this is “SDMB rules on HP #7”! So I didn’t really expect even the least spoiler here. I haven’t entered the other thread nor any of the speculative threads and not even the “funny ending” threads.
I may continue visiting this thread until tomorrow night and then I won’t click on anything that says “HP” until I have at least read the book.
let’s see…
a. this has been the longest week ever!!
b. spoilers don’t bother me. yep, someone may say “xyz dies.” they don’t say, how, why, when, etc. that is important. i knew going into 5 and 6 who died, didn’t know how or when or why.
c. if you don’t go to the mid night parties (and there are a ton) the best bet is an in-mall store the next morning. most malls will not allow midnight parties and the mall stores will have nifty parties when the mall opens on saturday morning. they will also have books. the midnight party stores usually run out that night except for the pre-orders.
d. after reading the nytimes review, i really want to get my hands on the book. i think a good job was done by the reviewer to keep the big secrets and just give you enough to say “hey!! woah! that’s an interesting idea.”