Latest Site Notices

EmmaRiddle · 01-31-2005, 05:51 PM

A few weeks ago a site claimed it had copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Jo Rowling, author of the books, now warns us against falling for any further online scams.

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You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the internet or on P2P/file-trading networks. Setting aside the fact that these books are illegal (there are no authorised HP e-books to date), they may infect your computer with viruses, leave you vulnerable to the dangers of hacking and/or credit card fraud and may also contain content that has nothing to do with Harry Potter.

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Please, please protect yourselves, your computers and your credit cards and do not fall for these scams. The only genuine copies of Harry Potter remain the authorised traditional book or audio tapes/cassettes/CDs distributed through my publishers.

Jo has also added a piece to her rubbish bin, under the category of 'Starting to Smell'.

Quote:

I was deeply amused to read recent reports in UK newspapers that we have just applied for planning permission to create a fifteen-bedroom-home - after all, even Dudley only required two bedrooms. It’s quite true that we have been doing building work on our house in Edinburgh, but as we are not setting up a hotel we went for a slightly more moderate number of sleeping quarters -divide fifteen by three and you might find yourself a little closer to the truth.

There is also an update in her Extra Stuff section, in which she makes a comment on the assumption that the rise in the popularity of owls as pets, is down to Harry Potter.

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If it is true that anybody has been influenced by my books to think that an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house, I would to take this opportunity to say as forcefully as I can: YOU ARE WRONG.

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The owls in the Harry Potter books, which deliver the mail by magical means, were never intended to portray the true behaviour or preferences of real owls. If your owl-mania seeks concrete expression, why not sponsor an owl at a bird sanctuary where you can visit your owl and know that you have secured him or her a happy, healthy life?

UPDATE: Jo has now edited the section concerning owls:

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In Britain there is a superstition that it is unlucky to see an owl by daylight, a superstition I had fun with in the first chapter of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ where, of course, the sudden explosion of owls flying by daylight represented something very lucky indeed, though the Muggles did not know it.

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Poor Ron gets Pigwidgeon, who is a Scops (these are very small owls with ears – cute, but distinctly unshowy). Poor exhausted Errol is a Great Gray, which in my opinion is the most comical-looking owl in the world – just Google the Great Gray to see what I mean.

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Naturally I gave my hero what I consider to be the most beautiful owl of the lot: the Snowy Owl, which also goes by the name of Ghost Owl. These are not native to Britain, so I felt that she would give Harry kudos at Hogwarts (there is no other snowy owl there, as I trust you have noticed).

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Only after Philosopher’s Stone had been accepted for publication did I realise that Snowy Owls are diurnal. I think it was during the writing of ‘Chamber of Secrets’ that I discovered that Snowy Owls are also virtually silent, the females being even quieter than the males. So all of Hedwig's night-time jaunts and her many reproving hoots may be taken as signs of her great magical ability or my pitiful lack of research, whichever you prefer.

Source: Mugglenet

Gryffindor prefect · 01-31-2005, 11:26 PM

I think that its great that she sort of "blacklisted" the site that set up this scam and I am also grateful that she has warned her fans against this sort of thing also. But I usually dont like buying things online anyway, I like to buy things from shops and stores cause then I know what I am buying and I get it straight away. J.K should start wearing that big S on her chest. (For Superwoman if you dont get it, I just have lame sayings).

RedMartini · 02-01-2005, 01:28 AM

cool.

TonksSB · 02-01-2005, 01:40 AM

Her site isnt loading for me! grrrr...
Anyway, that's very nice of her to warn us, I love her! And the Rubbish Bin update is funny. And 5 bedrooms isnt alot, when you have three kids. One for each plus yourself and an office or guestroom. Perfect!

mione_girlgwp · 02-01-2005, 01:44 AM

You just got to love Jo! I need to go to her site and see the updates....

prettyinpink · 02-01-2005, 01:45 AM

cool!

loony 4 ........ · 02-01-2005, 02:19 AM

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Originally Posted by TonksSB

Her site isnt loading for me! grrrr...
Anyway, that's very nice of her to warn us, I love her! And the Rubbish Bin update is funny. And 5 bedrooms isnt alot, when you have three kids. One for each plus yourself and an office or guestroom. Perfect!

exactly. And great for Jo to warn the people about owls as pets. what do you think they want to do with owls?Use them for posts

foreverpink8706 · 02-01-2005, 02:20 AM

i can'r wait to read the book and see the movie.

bageLiciouss · 02-01-2005, 02:22 AM

It's good of her to give out a warning, but who would be that desperate and stupid to actually buy a so-called 'leaked copy' from an unknown internet site !?

SapphireMisty · 02-01-2005, 02:44 AM

Good thing I didn't go overboard with my Potter obessiveness nor have heard about the site. Otherwise, my computer would have been reeked with some sort of system-info-destroying viruses or something like that. I'm not sure if that could actually happen by just one virus.

I think getting to see owls up close and personal without getting them spooked is cool. However, I admit, I would not dream of keeping them in a cage. That would sorta be animal cruelty because I am not apt to want to have a pet bird (some species might be endangered!).

AccioSnuffles · 02-01-2005, 08:15 AM

I can't believe people would go to the extent of buying owls.

Aurora Rain · 02-01-2005, 01:29 PM

That's nice of her!

Ms Wood · 02-01-2005, 02:19 PM

God bless JKR.

She is always looking after her fans, and now the birds,

She really is an incredible lady.

~*dangirl~* · 02-01-2005, 04:24 PM

lol....i liked the comment on the bedrooms

loonyluna · 02-01-2005, 10:36 PM

I love Jo. She's always so thoughtful and caring. Well, I'm going to her website now...

hermione-weasly · 02-02-2005, 12:06 AM

i find that interesting 4 some reason

~*HermioneGranger*~ · 02-02-2005, 01:00 AM

I would definately prefer to hold the book and squeeze it than read it on my screen! I know where to get the rest of them as ebooks though...IRC is a fabulous thing hehe