This is just sad, not only for someone spending 400+ hours over harry potter books and websites, but that people actually buy the book!

I've got to give it to the guy, he must be a machine to have studied it all

But if its true, IF, and this guy has worked all this out, would you really wanna read it and spoil the last book? No matter what a half assed job JK has done.

 

Heh. I love a good argument.

You used the word "extortion" when refering to the price of the book. You also made it sound worthless by saying "only a virtual copy". That my friend is slander.

You still have yet to qualify yourself as a critic since you haven't even read the free material offered on the site. I am assuming you haven't since you have no comment based on the content itself.

I am confused by this comment:

Do you think I am not a fan of fan fiction? Again I can only assume that you are comparing this book to fan fiction, which once again shows how little you know about the product which is not fan fiction.

At any rate, I have nothing against you personally. It just seems to me that your comments are "unkind" and that you are making them for the sake of being just that.

It would make more sense to me that you read the content that is offered for free on the website, then place your editorial, review or opinion based on the content on this thread and then we might have more to talk about.

 

Xanatos, some people can't wait till Christmas to open their presents. You'd be surprised how many people want answers before the book come out.

Another quick thought. I wouldn't consider this book a "spoiler". No one except J.K. and maybe her circle knows the whole outcome of book 7. What book7answers.com offers is a way for you to find the answers to the most burning questions within the previous 6 books themselves. It also has very concise essays based on big questions that in all honestly mostly reference back to the books themselves or to rare, documented interviews with J.K. where she reveals answers. Like whether Snape is good or bad.

 

Okay, I'm getting slightly annoyed. I will admit that this collection of theories and lists, which includes extensive citations of all sources, is well thought out and logical, although I do not agree with all the conclusions that were made. If this was the result of a completely free endeavor (i.e, that everyone could read it for free), it would be a bit different. As it is, it's sort of free - as there HAVE been free copies given away on their message board. If that was all, I'd be happy to support the e-book as an excellent free resource that a great deal of work clearly went into.

However, although I know how much e-books are worth (considering I've purchased them before), and I know how much effort must have gone into this - I do not think it is worth the price asked. Oddly enough, if it was offered for free, or a meaningless amount (.50), but donations were welcome, I'd probably have donated more. Seeing a price tag of $14 for an e-book leads me to believe it should be worth that much - but it isn't. Worthless? No. But if you ask my honest opinion, I will give it - which is, like I already said, that I don't think it's worth the asking price.

Obviously there are no explicit spoilers in this e-book - but the advertisement DOES imply that there will be. I am quite familiar with thstyle of product promotion, as I know the guy who runs that website "product help" business.

And I'm not sure how much I trust what JKR has said - especially in her interviews. In truth, canon will only be truly what the published books contain.

-J

 

Alright, TheProf. I bit. I played ball. I read the free snippet devoted to proving that Snape is good, and get this...I am still not impressed. These are the exact same half-baked theories that form the basis of a very large chunk of all fanfiction out there (and don't try to tell me that this isn't fanfiction, because it is, sans plot). If I read a fic that told me Dumbledore and Snape made an Unbreakable Vow with Crouch, of all people, officiating, I would stop reading and find something else. There is no way in hell Dumbledore would accept an Unbreakable Vow; he's too trusting, too willing to believe people. He wouldn't ask Snape for that, and Snape wouldn't offer. If this is what I'll get for my money, forget it.

On a side note, I really can't believe that this thread has gone on this long...

 

Well I am surprised. If J.K. Rowling telling you that Snape is good isn't convincing you then I don't know what will. How can you call it a half-baked theory when the source reveals the answer? Did I misunderstand something?

I suppose "sans plot" you can call anything in text form fan fiction that is not from the author. I personally believe in the more traditional approach taken by the Star Wars books, that fan fiction is a new plot based off the original plot.

I can understand your reasoning behind not liking the Dumbledore-Snape unbreakable vow theory. The question now is why has Snape always been good? And it's also a great opportunity for us to restudy his past behavior and understand what he has been up to, now that we know his disposition.

What I don't understand is why everyone wants the author to "give away" his material for free. Don't we all seek compensation for hard work that we do? And please don't give me the angle that it is wrong to make money off of the series. J.K. is sure making a lot of money based off of other peoples concepts of magic, mystical creatures and castles. So for someone to be offering a reference based off a popular, yet unoriginal, series doesn't seem like a crime in my mind.

If you read the website and decide it's not for you then that's fine. But if you do find the authors work somewhat intriguing then by all means give the author credit.

 

Credentials? What are you, the official fiction investigation squad? What possible credentials could you possibly have in this field? They don't give degrees about it at Oxford.

...Enough about Snape. God.

First of all, by "revealing the answers to these burning questions", you're doing exactly what Rowling's doing - trying to make money, plain and simple. All you're doing is reading into her words, and guessing. None of this is signed, sealed and verified by J.K Rowling, so therefore it's all one big fancy hypothesis. And as we know from secondary school science classes, hypotheses can, in fact, be wrong.

Really, you're making money off of this, you should be happy about what you're getting. Instead, you've turned this into an advertisement. Not all commercials list the price. You watch movie commercials - 300, coming soon. It doesn't list the theatre prices, or how much you'll be paying to get some popcorn and a drink.

If we want to read some essays, we can go to MuggleNet. If we want guesses, we can make up our own.

And suppose... that you're completely wrong? Then what? Do we get our money back? Of course not!

You've even said it yourself - you're not even certain how accurate your little compilation is.

I'm sure many people appreciate the effort you have gone into, reading and researching and guessing. But I don't appreciate you coming in here, telling us we're all wrong, and making a pretty penny off of a little file you've compiled.

You said you're a fan of fan fiction? Then you know what compensation we authors seek when we write. They're called reviews.

We can give the author credit without giving him money.

 

A little classic "taken out of context" going on in that last reply, mixed with again no knowledge of the actual facts themselves.

Ill try to reply to some of it.

It's not a hypothesis when the source verifies the truth. I have already established that is book is a little of both. But what is does say is concrete, it backs up with what you called "signed" references.

Not sure where I said anybodies opinion in this forum was incorrect when it came to things not pertaining to this book. You are going to have come up with some "signed" material of your own there.

I don't remember ever asking you or anybody on this forum for money. There was a point that I stood up for not stealing the authors material against his will. As for your "reviews" = what we fan fiction writers seek. Well, I gave you an excellent example of fan fiction through the Star Wars series. There are several more out there and you can buy their books at your local Barnes and Noble, which last time I checked doesn't recognize reviews, as currency.

In fear of getting misunderstood again. Let me make it clear that reviews are solid gold when it comes to anyones hard work. Especially favorable reviews. They can be used for hundreds of things, but near the top of that list, the reviews are part of the engine helping selling the book, or the movie, or the magazine. Why so much opposition to that idea? You are paying for several things everyday that fall into this category.

 

Okay, I'm getting real fed up with this whole thrice-damned thread. Prof, if, as you say, you aren't here to make advertisements and sell this stupid book, then the only other possible reason for you to be here is to criticize us, and I'm well and truly sick of it. Not only that, but I'm ashamed of myself and my fellows here at DLP for even perpetuating such a ridiculous discussion for this long. Someone just move this thing to the Hall of Shame where it belongs so we can get on with our lives, please!

 

My intentions for posting to this thread were to answer the threads first post, by bornagainpenguin. After that I was criticized for my comments which were only based off the book, and not other people. I did not start this thread, therefore this is in no way an attempt of advertising on my part.

You say in your signature:

You sound pretty intolerant to my explanations of this author's work that I have given. I've only given you facts about the book, and answered criticisms. It would be dishonest for me to sit here and let such criticisms go unanswered as if they were truths.

Truthfully I think DLP is a very intelligent and thoughtful community. I have only discussed my views about a project I am a part of. What I don't understand is when this conversation turned from a discussion to a lynching.

 

Man, you are pushing my buttons like they haven't been pushed in a very long time. How dare you come in here and accuse me of being intolerant when you've been nothing but condescending towards my views and the views of everyone else here? Of course, I guess I can't expect much from someone who takes a bleeding AUSTIN MOTHER-FUCKING POWERS reference seriously!

The first thing you said in your first post here was that I am not "qualified" to voice an opinion. Just what are your credentials, hot shot? Unless you have a PhD in Harry Potter Studies, STFU!

You then challenged me to do research in order to back up my thoughts instead of spouting out whatever comes to mind, so I posted a link to my research, and you suddenly didn't have a problem with people "stealing" this ebook because you "never took the time to secure it anyway, so you don't really care!" Not only that, but you claimed you didn't mean to insult my intelligence, when you had just spent your last post belittling everything I said.

Moving on, you made the statement that we were not qualified (again with that word) to make these insinuations because we hadn't read the free chapter. I took this at face value, gave you the benefit of the doubt, and read the stupid teaser and found nothing but the same THEORIES that I see half the Potter-verse jacking off to. When faced with the fact that this book apparently isn't telling anybody anything they haven't heard a thousand times before, you got defensive and accusatory.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I am the most agreeable guy in the world. However, when you attack me like you just did (especially with something so obsolete as my signature) you can be DAMN sure I'm going to take offense. The fact that I'm seventeen doesn't make me stupid, college boy!

 

Well. I purposely avoided this thread because my flame war alarm was tingling. It appears that I was correct, in a sense.

Prof. You are an ass. The fact that you're arguing with a group of people on a harry potter forum board shows this much. But I really don't get it. You're not stupid, by any measure. The fact that you went through the trouble of compiling the little archive that you're selling overpriced proves that you have some measure of intelligence, and the fact that you actually advertised it well enough to make a DLP member buy it out of curiosity shows something.

So, why? You've made your point, you've tried to make everyone look immature (Which you failed at, by the way. You may have made a high schooler or two angry, but you also contradicted yourself several times), now leave. There's really no point in you staying here and arguing on a Fanfiction Forum, is there?

Unless of course, you need to vent at something. Maybe you caught your girlfriend banging your dorm mate who has a bigger penis by you than 5 inches, maybe you got drunk celebrating the fact that you actually made money off this, and woke up hungover. It doesn't matter.

Leave, and stay gone, because no one is going to listen.

Unless of course, you'd like to argue with me. Go on. Make yourself feel like a big man by verbally sparring with a 16 year old. Well? I'm waiting.

 

You know, it's even funnier than that, because he didn't even write the damn thing. He's going on and on about something that he only "had a part in."

My thoughts exactly.

Considering his past history in the high-school-verbal-sparring department, I'd think he should wise up and just be gone, but I don't have such high hopes...

Prof, you brought this on yourself. The name DARK LORD Potter should give you a clue: don't badmouth us. We're very vindictive here.

 

Hey everyone,

I'm the guy who put together the book Harry Potter 6 3/4.

I saw that your forum sends us a lot of traffic; so, I thought I'd stop by and see why.

After checking out this thread (which, like you said, probably has gone on for far too long) I just wanted to say, "Wow!"

You guys (and gals) seem like great fans. And I just hope that I haven't upset anyone too much by putting this book together.

 

......

Dude.

Are you serious? Did you even read the damn thread? Are you a "Prof" or whatever the hell his name is sockpuppet? The entire thread had been your partner being an ass to good ol' NamesAreUnimportant, while similtaneously flipping out at everybody for pointing out we could just throw it up on a P2P network. As has been said before, this book of yours is a bunch of theories. It reminds me of an Area 51 ZOMG! ALIENS! site. No matter how intelligent it sounds, it ends up being only theories. All you've accomplished is Jeram saying that this is kinda interesting, yet ultimately a pointless diversion. Everybody else concurs, and it's also recognized you're charging way too much. That isn't much.

 

Don't worry, man, this isn't about the book anymore. Feel free to do what you want. I honestly admire that you actually went through the trouble to do it, because it's more than I've ever written (although I can't say I agree with some stuff you say, but that's me). It's your buddy here that's pissing everyone off to no end, and not because of the book itself. He turned what was a calm discussion into an advertisement/flame war.

BTW, whatever I said before, I honestly don't really care about copyright infringement or anything; it doesn't matter to me. Like I said in a previous post, I was playing devil's advocate because I wanted to see if your buddy could back everything up, so don't take it personally.

 

Heh. Wow. Well I'll do my best to address those comments:

First NamesAreUnimportant:

Qualified to comment on material you had not previously read. Please stop quoting me out of context. How in the world would I know you are in high-school, and why in the world would that matter? And again stop acting like its "the prof vs the DLP". You keep saying "we" when in fact I have quoted and addressed only you when I am talking to you.


C.S.Kaniel:

Sigh. Look I already give me point for posting on this thread, you can read it above. Anything beyond that is to address your arguments and statements.

The fact that you both have to make some reference about a penis in your arguments makes me wonder why I ever bother addressing your comments. I could careless that you are in high-school, I would have never known that. My first thoughts were that I was having a scholarly discussion with NamesAreUnimportant. I don't believe all high-school adults escalate an argument to the point that they have to start taking about their body parts, so even though you belittle yourselves with comments like:

You don't represent a majority of this forum with your beliefs that "when all else fails" lets start swearing and poking fun.

 

How the fuck would you know? Don't pull seniority when I'm 99% sure you haven't gone outside this thread.

 

Alright this has gotten retarded locked.