The Old Crowd
| Mailing List | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Old Crowd ("for the ancients of the HP fandom") |
| Date(s): | March 31, 2003 (most posts were between 2003 and 2007) |
| Moderated: | |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Old Crowd was a Harry Potter mailing list on Yahoo Groups.
It was formed in March 2003, three months before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released.
It was a highly restricted group made up of BNFs in the Harry Potter fandom, many of them former mods and list elves from Harry Potter for Grownups.
Group Description
This is a list for discussion of the works and world of JK Rowling in an oasis of calm...okay, let's say "in an atmosphere of keen excitement"... okay, let's go with "in a swirling frenzy of breathless obsession and nitpicking".
As we want to keep the numbers low, membership is by invitation on the recommendation of an existing member. The list rules are few and far between, but you can read them here: LIST RULES.
"Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." -- [Albus Dumbledore, Goblet of Fire] [1]
Fan Reaction
At least one fan felt this group to be elitist and counterproductive to egalitarian discussion:
"You all may recall the surge in list volume and decline in post quality at HPfGU surrounding the OoP release. What you may not know is that many of the elves joined an exclusive Yahoo Harry Potter dissussion list called "The Old Crowd," days before [2]the OoP release. TOC was started by six of the former moderators (one of whom is still an elf) who stepped down this Spring. On TOC, HPfGU list elves are able to chat aobut OoP with select list members in a small group setting -- an oasis of "calm" they call it -- while regular list members are left to drown in record message volume. To their credit, a couple of the elves refused to join "The Old Crowd" on principle, but the elves who did join disagreed that their duty to HPfGU meant they owned list members their full participation and attention during the OoP release." [3]
References
- ^ Group Description
- ^ actually three months
- ^ from Cindy C., list admin member for HPfGU, message #19617, November 13, 2003. The day this message was posted, she was asked to resign her duties at HPFGU.