Beedle the Bard available on 4 December 2008!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Now now....

If two moderators are going to have a difference of opinion in these forums I was hoping it would be a YouTube video of Patricia and Zelda in a vat of jello. This kind of professional conduct is totally uncalled for and frankly kind of ... [yawn].

btw, I didn't know that Nate went to a bookstore yesterday so it was news to me.

Nate goes to look at the pictures.

[HarryT]

Are all the clubs in the Greek "Super League" owned by Greeks? Like it or not, large football clubs these days are international businesses. There are lots of new "billionaires" in places like Russia and India who want to buy them! My local football club, Manchester United, is a truly world-wide "business" these days - wherever you go in the world, people know who they are.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's precisely what I'm saying, Geoff. We should all respect the fact that it is conceivable that a book that we don't personally like can be liked by others without having to be insulting about either the book or its author. To label a phenomenal best-seller like the Harry Potter books as "crap" and to suggest that its success is solely down to marketting is to insult the intelligence of millions of people who did (and still do) enjoy reading the series.

But you described John Ringo's 'Ghost' as "sick", and "I really don't think I'd want to meet the sort of person who LIKES "Ghost"".

Wasn't that being dismissive of a book's readership, in the same way that you're being critical of here?

[Mindy]

Originally Posted by stepanok

Scotland?? sounds like a British colony, still, I dont have an atlas handy, but i'm in Greece( is that ok with you?? )...

Set the Nac Mac Feegle on him.
That'll learn him.

***muttermutter*** wannabe sassenachs indeed ***muttermutter***

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

But you described John Ringo's 'Ghost' as "sick", and "I really don't think I'd want to meet the sort of person who LIKES "Ghost"".

Wasn't that being dismissive of a book's readership, in the same way that you're being critical of here?

There's a difference, Sparrow. Ghost IS sick. EVERYONE agrees that it is, even its author, John Ringo. Don't you think that it is?

[stepanok]

Harry Potter is bussiness, Manchester United is bussiness. I guess i dont like bussiness that much then

P.S
Ehh...is that Nac Mac thing dangerous???....i have the Nac Windows version

[Riocaz]

Not read your Pratchett then ;-)

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's a difference, Sparrow. Ghost IS sick. EVERYONE agrees that it is, even its author, John Ringo. Don't you think that it is?

I haven't read it .
But when you said you wouldn't want to meet someone who liked it - it seemed to me that you felt entitled to have a dig at people who didn't share your taste in literature (but maybe I misread it).

For what it's worth, I agree with Geoff - people should be allowed to enjoy whatever books they want without being criticised for doing so (whether it's Rowling or Ringo).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

For what it's worth, I agree with Geoff - people should be allowed to enjoy whatever books they want without being criticised for doing so (whether it's Rowling or Ringo).

Er, that's exactly what I said right at the start of all this, Sparrow .

Read the start of "Ghost" - please. It's in the Baen "Free Library". After reading a few chapters of it you'll understand just what it is about it that's so horrific. Its protagonist is a psychopath.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Mindy

Set the Nac Mac Feegle on him.
That'll learn him.

***muttermutter*** wannabe sassenachs indeed ***muttermutter***

watcha babe, who you callin a sassenach....it means low-lander if I remember rightly.....

(quacks as he disappears behind a haggis farm).

[HarryT]

It actually means "Saxon" - it was a word invented by Sir Walter Scott. Not that many English people are, in fact, of Saxon ancestry. I'm a "Celt", through and through, personally.

As you say, Scott used the word to mean anyone who wasn't a Highlander, NOT to mean the English.

[Mindy]

Possibly started out that way, but in all the literature I've read (Rob Roy, Grassic Gibbon) it's used as a derogatory term to denote the English. Wiki seems to agree with me.
I trust everyone to take it in context and not take offence, as none was meant
Random Scottish words are just so much fun.

[astrodad]

I don't know why you all listen to stepanok, who's only obvious purpose for being here is to incite flame wars. Honestly, who turns a discussion about Harry Potter into a discussion about Iraq?

[stepanok]

We're talking about Scotland actually...(strange people these evangelical Americans..)

[astra]

HarryT

Because he didn't say "I don't like the books"; he said "the books are crap". No disrespect to you, but if you're not a native English-speaker, you may perhaps not appreciate the enormous difference between the meaning of those two statements. The first is expressing a personal preference - nobody would argue with that. The second is stating an absolute fact about the value of them, and that's insulting.

I could be wrong of course but I think you see a lot more to his post than he intended.
Saying "I don't like it" is not enough. Why I didn't like? Because it is Sci-fi and I like detective stories? Because it was boring? Because it was crap? I must add an explanation. And saying it is crap is reasonable good explanation -> IMHO!
Anyone who post on forum, in general IMHO!, state their personal opinion. Sure we could type IMHO after every sentence, but it would make posting a chore So, well at least that is how I read others' people posts, I always look at them as personal opinion about something, unless told otherwise.
In my opinion if he said: HP's books are crap; you should read it as: HP's books are crap IMHO.

Although I believe you are right, because he said it a bit differently:

Now we come to the next point.... who can read and enjoy this crap ?????

This one clearly states his opinion that anyone who can read HP is an idiot or worse.
life is full of idiots and morons, HarryT, we just have to deal with them or ignore

I will make a small attempt and will not ignore but give an example from my experience.

stepanok
While I completely agree with

I like the way she even tells us how we should read her books. No ebooks. Are we alowed to drink, or take a break to go to the toilet ??

and have zero respect for "wishes" of this sort and do what I like and also

I guess i dont like bussiness that much then

I hate business as well.
I totally disagree with

Harry Potter books are plain crap and because of that it took a zillion $$$ to market them and promote them. Thet are a great example of what a shrewd bussiness woman can achive but not what a writer can

Why?
Quite simple.
I am the last person who can be influenced by total strangers. This problem follows me through all my life, because when you are different from crowd, you have got a problem. People don't like someone who is different.
I started to read HP1 4 months after HP7 was published.
Never read HP before. Seen 2 or 3 movies and was not impressed and that's it. I didn't give a monkey's ...bottom whether most people around me read him and liked/disliked HP and closely followed his quest during all 7 or more years while Rowling was writing the books.
In 20 minutes after I started to read HP, I knew I love it. I read all 7 books in a record time of 2.5 months, non-stop. I still believe it is one of the best fantasy series I have ever read.
So, you might dislike HP and believe it is crap but your assumption that its success is only a business model is indeed a crap idea

HF