Happy Anniversary, HPFGU

[heidi]

It's been five years since Alicia-Sue (socialista, are you still here?) kicked off the migration of HarryPotterforGrownUps from the Yahoo club I joined six weeks before, to an eGroup, which later transmogrified into the Yahoogroup that's still around today.

I'm still technically a member of the Main list and Movie, but the only hpfgu lists I still get emails from are OTChatter, Announcements & Convention, even though I'm on the Mod list, primarily as an IP Law consulting-type. I just don't have the time to keep up with the main list, and personally, I prefer forum & lj-type discussion.

Back when hpfgu became an eGroup, there were few other places to talk HP with people who could spell and didn't post primarily in l33t. There were perhaps 3000 fics & chapters on ffn, and there were no other 'open' sites for fanfic. Leaky Cauldron existed but it was more of a small-time operation until later that year when BK took it over. And I think there were about 1000 people on hpfgu.

I've had good and bad times on the list, I won't deny it. But I think everyone has a soft spot for the way they entered fandom, and hpfgu is that for me. Without it, I wouldn't know folk, epicyclical, aegeus, geneaologygirl, gwendolyngrace, sheryll, bbennett, bkdelong, cjestes, titanic_days, madlori, angiej, psychic_serpent, elfundeb, owlman, vado, and probably another hundred of you as well.

How many of you were on the list? How many of you were there before the OTC-split? Are any of you still there and posting? How about lurking? If you're still reading the list what do you think about what it's like these days?

And damn, isn't the fandom a big freakin' thing as we come onto six years?

Comments

[in-a-tizzy.livejournal.com]

My introduciton to fandom came from reading HPFGU over my mother's shoulder. She gave up on fandom in late 2002 and I started lurking on my own. My mum posted under Joanne0012.

[incitata.livejournal.com]

I think the OTC list alraedy existed when I joined. It´s such a long time ago I can´t remember it all that clearly.

[narcissam.livejournal.com]

I was on the list for almost two years. I don't read now (IT'S SO HUGE!), but I've fond memories of it, even when it got a bit stormy.

[ancarett]

I joined HPFGU about three years ago, I believe. Posted a bit but found it overwhelming, even in digest format, so I went to no-mail. Once a month or so, now, I still catch up on it at the Yahoogroups site but I prefer LJ and FA as they are both easier to follow!

[ex-ms-katoni171.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I was on the Yahoo group in 2000 - it was how I got into fandom in the first place. I eventually left because I couldn't keep up with the posts, but I have fond memories.

And my god, the fandom's grown so much! Look at it now...

[loup_noir]

I joined in fall of 00, I think. Maybe it was '01. Shoot, the years blur by.

The OTC was my favorite list for a long time. It was warm and cozy and it had the advantage that I could actually get through it, unlike the main list.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I was on it for about six weeks a couple of years ago, but I had to unsub because the posts were so damn long and there were SO many of them I couldn't keep up. Plus -- and this is going to sound weird, considering some of the theories I've come up with on my own -- I couldn't *stand* the way the members of the list overanalyzed every. stinking. detail. of the books.

[meggitymeg.livejournal.com]

I joined HPFGU in June of 2001, I've just discovered - so, after the OTC split, but before the Movie and Convention splits. Of course, I was a great big lurker in fandom at that point - and continued to be, pretty much up until Nimbus. :D

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

Wow. Alicia-sue. I haven't seen that name in... gods, like 3 years or something absurd like that.

When I first entered the fandom, she was archived at alohamora.com, which no longer exists but was my first fanfiction site before I knew ff.n existed, and one of her second generation stories was the multichapter fic I ever read.

It really is amazing to reflect on how drastically my fandom experience has changed and widened since I've been around, which is about 5 years.

[casfic.livejournal.com]

I joined sometime in 2002 and was subbed for about a year, until OotP came out and I just gave up because of the huge increase in posts. I also prefer forum/lj type discussions.

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

It has been a long time, hasn't it? I think I joined just a few weeks before you did. Were you there just before or just after GoF came out?

Like you, there are a lot of great people I wouldn't know, or wouldn't have met in RL without HPFGU. And there are still lots I'd like to meet. Think you and I will ever make it to the same HP event? I'm hoping we eventually we will. :)

I think it's been forever since I've posted to Main. There's just no time anymore, though I still at least skim nearly everything posted. Lots of posts to OTC, but mostly only because I'm the Birthday Elf now.

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

I was there for a while way back when - that's how I met folk, I think. Got too frustrating, though.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I was there for a while. Maybe 3, 4 months, but it was my first taste of the absolute frothing rabidity and lack of tolerance or respect for other peoples' opinions in the fandom, and so I decided it wasn't for me. I like places where people can share their ideas and not have 500 strangers jump down their throats just for expressing an opinion.

[zorb]

I'm still technically subscribed to the list, but I don't get it mailed to me and I don't read it. Even when I first joined it, near the end of 2001, I had a hard time keeping up - mostly due to having already joined FA and being more involved with discussion there.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

I joined in April of '01, after that Salon article -- pre OT-split days, IIRC. I'm still subbed to OTChatter and Announcements, but I'm not really that active anymore so I don't check things terribly often. I count on my flist (::coughHeidicough::) for the news these days.

[genealogygirl.livejournal.com]

Ha ---- well, you know my history! :--)

List mom (why?) for much of 2000 and then one of a team of mods for 2.5 more years. At which point, I was physically and mentally and emotionally exhausted from the whole experience.

Too much volume is definitely the biggest problem. And, I've never been good at affirmatively checking a list-serve like that. I prefer to get emails, but in the case of HPfGU, it was entirely overwhelming.

My hat goes off to my friends on the current admin team who are still there, working hard. It's a great group, but I don't see myself getting very involved there again.

[hannahmarder.livejournal.com]

I came into the fandom through HPfGU, and like you I have a huge soft spot for it. I'm much newer than the split though, I only joined at the start of last year. I don't post there very often any more, though I usually check it out at least once a week. The debate is still a high standard - probably the best of any HP discussion site that I've ever found. One great thing about it is that it's relatively ship-free. There are some shipping discussions, but it doesn't take over everything. Most of my theories about canon were developed through debate there and I'm sure it's had a positive influence on my writing - for one thing, you get used to making sure every argument is watertight and everything is completely canon! The fandom is very big, though it must seem even more so to people who've been there since the start. I think HPfGU is probably the best HP site, along with Fiction Alley. I like them for different reasons, but a lot of people seem to use both anyway.

[ina]

I joined soon after the transition to egroups. I knew about the yahooclub but since online time was expensive then, I didn't join it. I discovered fics on HPfGU, PoU and others. I am still subscribed, but I haven't read it in a long time. But since it was my entrance to fandom, I feel nostalgic about it.

[folk.livejournal.com]

Hey, wow, Penny! Hi! It's John. I was reading comments to Heidi's entry and was like "wait...which mod is that?". I've added you to my friends list -- hope you don't mind. Hope all's well with you and the family!

[folk.livejournal.com]

HPFG-what?

[earth-magic.livejournal.com]

I would have joined sometime after July 2001 and posted quite a bit to start with. I remember finding it a bit intimidating because I was new and lots of the things I wanted to ask or say had already been said and people sometimes got cross because the questions had been said before.

I drifted away about a year later, probably after getting a LiveJournal.

But it was fun and I do occasionally drift back to see what's being said there.

[dramaturgy.livejournal.com]

I came into the fandom just before my sophomore year of high school which was... yikes, four years ago. And now I'm just before my sophomore year of college. It has been crazy and I get HPFGU OT-Chatter to my e-mail in a digest, but I usually lurk and am amused. I just don't have the time to keep up with the main list, leviosarpg usually takes up all my fandom time. XD

[genealogygirl.livejournal.com]

John!!!!!

:::hugs:::::

Didn't know you were still out there. Yes, things are fine (albeit busy) with the kids. Elizabeth is 4-going-on-13 most days. Harry is about to start crawling any second now. I'm glad to find you in the fandom again. Write and let me know what is up with you sometime soon.

[cleverthylacine]

I was on it for about six weeks a couple of years ago, but I had to unsub because the posts were so damn long and there were SO many of them I couldn't keep up.

Same here!

[arakne.livejournal.com]

I used to lurk there--it's where I first heard of fanfic. :) So long ago. But I wasn't a participant. When I had to change Yahoo IDs a while back, all my subscriptions died with my old ID and I never added most of them back, in the interest of spending a bit less time online.

[vado.livejournal.com]

To think that it used to be possible to read every message ever written on HPfGU in under an hour. Now it would take a week just to browse through the member list.

I loved being part of it and meeting so many people through it, but I was seriously nuts to have invested so much time in it.

[sylphie.livejournal.com]

::fondly remembers Sunday chats:: Remember when we switched servers to the room that made noises?

You probably don't remember me, as I was never a big-timer. I thought I was on it 1999, but maybe that was just the year I discovered fandom. I was definitely on it 2000 and 2001, though.

[mongwen.livejournal.com]

I've been a member of HPFGU for at least 3 years. I think I'm on all the lists, but the only one I take any sort of time with is the main one. I'm just a lurker.