Tunbridge Wells calling

[woman_ironing]

Barack Obama has been elected, the Bank of England has reduced interest rates, Labour have won the Glenrothes by-election, but I’m going to have a moan about an obscure lj Harry Potter community, deathtocapslock.

Comments

[merrymelody]

Personally, if I hated something that much I'd just sling my hook and do something else.

Applies just as much to people compelled to seek out negative reactions to series they adore. If woman_ironing doesn't like DTCL, maybe she shouldn't read it, rather than posting anonymous whiny comments in it.
This is a post doing to DTCL exactly what DTCL does to HP.

[travisprinzi]

This is a post doing to DTCL exactly what DTCL does to HP.

No, it's not. It's just one post pointing out one problem one time, and graciously at that. It's not an incessant diatribe with no real conversation.

Who knows if I've run into any specific deathtocapslock members in my discussions, but I ran into enough who are of the mindset that woman_ironing describes that I've dropped out of most LJ HP conversations, because they're never actually "conversations." It gets frustrating, because instead of having a conversation, even one where we still disagree at the end, accusations of Rowling-worship and other nonsense get tossed around.

Don't know if that happens specifically at DTCL. I've encountered it a lot around LJ HP discussions, though.

[merrymelody]

I beg to disagree.
The post is hardly seeking different ideas, it's a very clearly stated opinion (your 'oozing with bitterness and spite' is someone else's 'wit') - woman_ironing herself called it a 'moan'.

I wouldn't call it particularly gracious to brand members 'hysteric(al)' or 'absurd', either, and the fact that woman_ironing has previously commented anonymously to the community isn't any more proof of her manners.

I've dropped out of most LJ HP conversations

Sounds like you have the right idea. Like I said above, 'if you don't like, don't read' cuts both ways.

[sistermagpie]

Okay, the comm started because someone wanted to re-read OotP for a particular reason, but they didn't like it. So she said maybe it would be fun for a bunch of people who didn't enjoy it to read it together and snark at it to make it more enjoyable--and hey, maybe find some good things in it too. So yes, like many many other readthroughs it did indeed start with a specific pov since the participants shared it

[woman_ironing]

I’m not getting at you for plugging away at HP, I’m getting at you for not doing it more interestingly! Or maybe interestingly enough for me. Perhaps I just have a short attention span. You say “sometimes what sounds like bitterness and hatred actually isn't” and bookshop says that the members of death2 are all huge fans of the series. But slinkhard, horridporrid, static pixie and Anonymous Dan Hemmens (“I, and most of the other regular posters at DTCL have exactly the opinions about the series that you describe.”) don’t seem to be. I’d guess that’s why they like deathtocapslock

[horridporrid]

I’m not getting at you for plugging away at HP, I’m getting at you for not doing it more interestingly! Or maybe interestingly enough for me.

But that's the central issue, I think. One person's "interesting" is another person's "boring" (or repetitive or bitter or whathaveyou). I find alchemy theories regarding HP supremely boring, but that doesn't mean I think sites that discuss same should somehow shift their focus to accommodate me. Why should my disinterest dictate the discussion habits of those who share an interest?

I'll admit I have some bitterness about the HP series; I think it ended in a fantastic train-wreck. But... what's wrong with that? What's wrong with playing around in a comm where folks who do feel some bitterness can feel free to express that feeling, knowing they're not peeing in the general HP fan's pool?

You must be right that there are places for discussion on the web. I thought I’d found just such a place when I found lj. I suppose the fact is that that is no longer the case - if it ever was.I think you'

[horridporrid]

...and perhaps the members of the community - who are sincere in their view of the series - feel it is a public service for them to point out its inadequacies.

Well, no. For me, I'm just having fun. :) I'm not incredibly interested in debating the books anymore. After DH came out I did a lot of debating, so by this point it would just be endless rehashing of old points for me. But I do enjoy taking part in the "how crap was it?" discussions in DTCL. It amuses me and, being its own little group, doesn't rain on the parade of those who enjoy the series.

[static_pixie]

Ditto for me. Also, I'm pretty sure you have to actually alert the public when providing a public service which DTCL intentionally never did.

[bookshop]

Wow.

I think you're missing the point. The point is that the things they love about Harry Potter - and they are all huge fans of the series - are things that *don't stand up as well as they could in the writing,* which makes the writing open to critique and debate and snark.

All I can say is that billions of fans around the world and through the ages have criticized, critiqued, made fun of, and parodied things for which they hold deep love.

And if you can't stomach that particular kind of fannishness, then all I can offer you is this piece of advice:

please don't ever read Twilight.

[woman_ironing]

From the comment below, it seems that not all members of deathtocapslock are fans of the series!

I really don't mind snark, it's just that deathtowotsit is disturbingly not funny.

I'll take your advice about Twilight!

[anonymous]

I am deeply, deeply confused by this post

[woman_ironing]

I don’t expect Amnesty International to support torture, but I am sure that in that organisation, and in the others that you mention, there is a range of views on the issues that concern them. I expect too that all of them debate their ideas and policies, and change - even develop - them from time to time.

I’m relieved (but also a bit sad) to discover I wasn’t a million miles off in the feeling I got about the attitude of the deathtocapslock community. From HP, I didn’t get the feeling that it’s a moral failing for a woman to die in childbirth, or that it’s okay to torture if you’re angry. The feeling I got is that they are the kinds of things that happen to people because of the power of the circumstances they are in, or that people do because of the power of the feelings they have. People aren’t always in control, either of the world they live in or of themselves.

I would have expected your own journal to be a hotbed of dissenting opinions and healthy discussion.
It is today, sort of!