Portkeying the Triwizard Cup instead of his pillow and relying on him to win the contest.

 

Saying she's not a good writer is...ridiculous. All of us freaking love the world she crafted, if only for the staggering amount of possibilities there are. An untalented writer couldn't have done that.

Back on topic, I think this is a little...extreme, to say the least. But then, as someone who fully plans to download it within the first ten hours of it's release, I can kinda understand. Having it online after release is much much better than having it online before. Almost makes every bit of security worth it, from a business standpoint.

As an example, around here Harry Potter four through six cost around $24 at release, not sure about other areas. Now considering how Harry Potter is the WoW of the literature world, theoretically, it's possible that 7 million copies will fly off those shelves during the new release craze.

7,000,000X24=$168,000,000. Yes, that is an ass load of money. J.K.R. is a lucky hoe...

By the way, I'm probably exaggerating the number of books to be sod all at once, but I'm aware of this. You don't have to call me on it, taking statistics on the unwashed masses isn't my forte.

Anyways. Let's imagine 6 million of those buyers are p2p users. Now that big fat hunk of beauuuutiful cash goes from $168,000,000 to $24,000,000. A lot of money to the average person, sure, but that's a $144,000,000 loss in profits.

Yeah. Makes a bit more sense when you look at that way.

I'm probably just chasing shadows, but, enh. You all get the picture.

 

There have been numerous threads discussing several of the plotholes in the HP series. The one that jumps off the top of my head is the contradicting theories behind the Fidelius Charm. How was Hagrid able to find the Potter's place of residence when it was never specified that the Fidelius Charm had fallen, only that the Potters had been betrayed to LV. Furthermore, if simply telling someone the Secret brought the charm down completely, how is the Order able to conduct their business privately, since apparently they tell everyone who comes in and out of Number 12?

 

Perhaps because the house was destroyed by the backfiring spell, or because the people the spell was protecting had already died, much like the binding spell on Harry faded after Dumbledore died, or maybe because the magical backlash broke the spell, or maybe even because Hagrid knew the address. There are a number of reasons for that, and all I'm saying is that the sheer amount of possibility in her universe eliminates almost any plot holes a person could think except for the little things, like why Moody didn't just portkey the pillow, or why Riddle didn't just have Ginny kill Harry in his sleep and end a whole lot of problems and continue his massacre in peace. Bio, we need the plot, and the same questions of why things weren't much simpler could be asked of any great novel. Why couldn't Gandalf just fly Frodo to Mt. Doom on his Griffin? Because that would have been hard to do, just as hard as answering the question as to why Harry Potter disappeared from a place only teachers and students could reach.

 

Bullsh!t.

Good luck finding delivery companies to do this. just talking about the sheer volume in large metropolitan areas this will not happen, there isn't enough people to do this, not with normal workload.

/end bike courier rant.

 

You don't fucking get it. The fact that there are unexplained things which occur which leave a huge amount possibilities in what really happened, IS A PLOT HOLE. Contradictory information concerning the plot of the story left unexplained. Does that need to be more clear for you? Some, if not many plot holes that appear are things which fanfiction thrives on, you seem to have things which can be explained in FF but aren't in canon confused.

 

No. That isn't a plot hole at all. A plot hole is illogical, unexplainable, doesn't fit in the storyverse, or is even contradicting the basic premises of the story and its universe.

Unexplained events which offer a huge range of possible explanations are just open to the fantasy of the reader. If there are too many unexplained things they become bothersome but just the fact that not all details are clarified has nothing to do with plot holes. I don't think JKR neglects too many details, and it never annoyed me. In contrast there are some fanfic authors trying to explain even the tiniest detail, and for the reader that's annoying, too, as it disturbs the flow of the story (bellerophon is an example for that specimen).

But there are some major illogical points qualifying as plot holes, and the biggest is nearly the whole book four. Others are for instance the traps protecting the Philosopher's Stone (though Rorschach's Blot offers a great and logical explanation somewhere near the end of "Make a Wish"), or the Shrieking Shack (there certainly was a way to hide Lupin in or near the castle).

 

Err.... we're getting a bit off topic here. JKR is a fine writer and the creator of a brilliant fictional universe. And if you want my interpretation of the word 'plot hole', I think of it more literally. A plot hole is a gap in our understanding of the story. Something that's not been explained, and while yes they are some ridiculous ways to justify 'plot holes' so that they're not mistakes, they still are questions about the plot that haven't been answered and are important or even critical to our understanding.

The Fidelius Charm is an excellent example and it can be explained any number of ways. But it hasn't ever been explained at all. And if we're trying to figure out how no one knew Pettigrew was the secret keeper and yet seemingly lots of people still knew the secret... that's a plot hole.

Something like Harry not seeing the thestrals at the end of Goblet of Fire, or the fact that James and Lily came out of Voldemort's wand in the wrong order. Those are a lot closer to simple mistakes and inaccuracies than 'plot holes.' I've no doubt there are several mistakes too.

I don't consider plot holes mistakes. Plot holes are where I think we should have gotten a better explanation, but the author (or editor) thinks differently. If you're watching a movie where two parents are playing with their son, and then the rest of the movie features only the dad without any mention of mom, to me that's a plot hole. Mom could have died and it wasn't worth mentioning. Or perhaps she was there, just barely off screen. Either way, there are a myriad of explanations, but we've not been given one. That's a hole. If we see mom die and then the rest of the movie she's alive, that's a mistake. It's very subjective I know, but for fanfiction purposes they are fantastic.

Plot holes are questions that fanfic gets to answer.

Getting slightly back on topic, I'll say this: whether the book gets online before or after it's release will have very little affect on sales. Those of us in fanfic are used to reading long stories on screen, but we're the exception to the rule. This isn't music or movies. People will still buy the book and read it.

The idea that of the 7 million who were going to buy it, 6 million will now read their free bootlegged copies instead is laughable. It's a book that'll nearly outsell the bible. We're the elitist rabid online fangirls and fanboys. We're barely a blip on the radar of the final novel in the most popular fictional series ever.

 

Well, yeah. It was just an example of what they might be worried about. I never said it was logical, but alot of people stand to make cash off of it, so the security measures, no matter how ridiculous, might make sense to them.

Like I already said, taking statistics on the unwashed masses...not my thing.