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Oooh Steve, You have done it this time.

You may have your own opinion, You may defy the wishes of our Jo, but you MAY NOT insult our Mellisa!

How dare he!

Oh boo-freak’n-hoo for Steve Vander Ark. Where’s the story about the minor mythical being, who saw himself as the chose one, and tried to get himself a job as JK’s assistant in (co?)writing her encyclopedia?

This isn’t some brash teenager with aspirations, it’s a 50 year old librarian what can’t attribute quotations correctly. It’s not about creative freedom, it’s about cashing in.

With great gusto the man has shot himself in both feet on less and then laments the pain of being shunned by author and community.

Shame on Steve Vander Ark for belittling Melissa. Shame him for lashing out at those that doesn’t see the windmill he’s tilting at. These are the petty acts of a lesser man.

Well, this IS the Talk of the Town section of the New Yorker. For those not familiar, these are little pieces of “atmosphere” in a early section of the mag before the longer feature stories kick in. Everybody who reads the New Yorker at least reads this section. I usually enjoy these vignettes very much. This one … not so much.

I wonder how Tim Wu … copyright (I think) law professor at Columbia who was at the trial with his students…. came to write this piece? Not to be too meta about this, but did NYor approach him specifically for Talk of the Town?

He wrote pre-trial articles disagreeing with Jo/WB’s stand in this case. So, what did HE think of the trial and how each side presented their case? Are we going to see a longer article from him?

Let’s face it, the media thinks this is a big joke: Either a chance to bash Jo or a chance to make fun of fans. Ol’ mushroom-cropped fifty year old man Steve is like manna from heaven for this! Only the legal/business writers at Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg seemed to take this seriously.

Melissa, Sue, John … courage!

Melissa, the next time your name appears in The New Yorker (after their correction, I mean) will be when they publish an exherpt from your book on the eve of its publication.

THAT would be sweet revenge.

SVA needs to be slapped in the face with a 2×4 piece of wood and told to get real!!!! He’s making an @&^() out of himself by saying what he did. He claims he’s now a writer, but if I was a publisher I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole. In no way has Melissa or anyone else hurt him. He’s done this to himself. As Dumbledore said, “It’s our choices….” He had a choice to pull away from this and he didn’t. Normally I’m a very soft spoken person who hates to say anything bad about anyone, but this just took the cake when he made this personal with Melissa who has been more than fair toward him.

Melissa, you did nothing wrong and you’ve got thousands of supporters on Leaky and I’m sure elsewhere. You’re a jewel of a reporter and I wish that Wu guy would take a lesson in reporting from you. I can’t wait to read your book!

The only reason why is “an outcast” is because he has declared himself one both in words and actions. I think a lot of people were supportive him at first but each time he opens his mouth he digs him self in deeper and deeper…. RDR was so keen on hiring lawyers but maybe they should have invested in some better PR training.

Wow Steve – You are official more immature than the little girl I babysat who was 3 years old.

You feeling ostracized? Like you aren’t apart of the community anymore? Well I’m sure the best way to get back in our good graces is to insult another webmaster who is supposed to have been your friend. What, pissed that they disconnected you from the network? That you aren’t going to be back on PotterCast. Get over it. You’re 50 years old, show some respect for others and stop whining. It’s childish, immature and frankly below you.

Melissa – I love Leaky and I love you. I’ve never been to the HP Lexicon site and never will strictly on principle. Leaky is the only HP site I go to everyday to check for news and quite frankly, I love PotterCast and wait in anticipation for the next one. I hope that you ignore these awful words from a childish man who’s just angry and bitter. I hope you know how much those of us here at Leaky love you and if I was in NY I’d give you a hug.

“SVA needs to be slapped in the face with a 2×4 piece of wood and told to get real!!!!...” Posted by LisaRosa on May 06, 2008 @ 12:42 AM ROFL! That was hilarious…

I think the words of note there are ‘is writing a book with Rowling’s blessing’. SVA could also have done this instead he is hammering to try and publish one without it. The whole thing is just getting so nasty and people are flinging mud where it don’t belong.

im sorry i just have to say this is all rediculously insane.

this all could have been handled way better.. he SHOULD have gone to jo and asked if it was ok first. and if she said no, (which i hope was a CONVERSATION before it was a FIGHT on her part), he shouldnt have fought it. its her story. but haveing said all that, this is a fan of the same thing we’re all so crazy about.. a fan who simply made a mistake. how do you think he feels haveing ths source of this thing he’s held so high in his life, suddenly lashing out this hard at him simply for (in HIS view) expressing his fandom. when you love something so much, sometimes it becomes equal to RELIGOUS fervor, and you forget that theres an actual person behind this and that it actually belongs to someone. ..dont say you never had that problem..

as for the melissa thing, im not a very frequent regular here, i dont know melissa, if its not in the HP books infact, i dont know it. what i DO know, is fan-hierarchies are stupid. i hail from another fan world very much like this one, where i WAS one of the “famous fans”. ..and i never understood it. yes i owned official sites and was all kinds of admin and mod of other sites and street teams and all that crap, but i never loved them more than some of the other fans did (though i loved them very much), i just had better oppertunities. dispite what some butt-kissers told me, i was NOT special. and i found it really odd when a personal matter came up between me and whoever, and a whole bunch of strangers treated it like it was a televised fued that they all had to jump in on and loudly root for their princess as if they knew the whole story. and they too had a very “how DARE he/she insult stitch!!” attitude.. like nobody’s allowed to have a negative view of me?? its impossible for me to rub someone the wrong way?? ..it made me very uncomfortable.. so uncomfortable infact, i deliberately took myself off the radar and kept very private. i refused to be the “famous fan” anymore and it shouldnt be long before they all forget or stop careing about MY “status”.

point is, im sure theres two sides, but let the man have his oppinion. he has a VERY different point of view of this whole thing that he cant help. being a fan of something is one thing, but thats just idol-worship.. and when idol-worship bleeds into people who are NOT the creator of the thing in question, its even worse.

Melissa this is for you. Please try not to concern yourself with this recent article and how it may or may not affect your book. I personally feel that the mention of your name was a last ditch attempt on Steve’s part to try and hurt you or take something away from you. His behavior is like that of a small child who lost his toy and is trying to take anothers. I know that when I heard you where writing your book about the fandom, I was so happy for you. In addition, I eagerly await its release date. I believe that the vast majority of people who know you and love you feel the same. There is nothing that Steve can do to take that away. His choices to go the “easy way” rather than the “right way” (roughly quoting Dumbledore) are very clear. He chose to blatantly plagiarize Jo, which may have seemed easy at the time he did it, however, now he is paying dearly in societal consequences. I do not know any true harry potter fan who would touch his book with RDR or any other future book for that matter. Please rest easy Melissa and know that this will blow over as all news does. Tomorrow is another day and all this will be just a memory. A million hugs and kisses.

Not sure if this was brought up in previous pages but…. If I remember correctly it was Melissa and Emerson (Mugglenet) who were invited to Scotland to meet with JKR during one of the previous book releases – never SVA. JKR may have given him a nod for all his work on the website but SVA was never in Melissa’s league.

Plus her book is a very worthwhile effort especially from a sociology standpoint. I remember years ago (when I was a kid) and a certain Scottish band was all the rage – all our newsletter were done by snail mail. All our contacts through penpals. We’ve come a long way with the internet age and it makes sense that someone writes about how fandom has changed in the interent age.

See ignorant reporting rant in last week’s PotterCast:

hugs Melissa Thank you for your, and all of Leaky’s, integrity throughout this whole thing. It does not go unnoticed. I really appreciate it.

Sidenote: Congratulations on finishing your book!!

I agree with Melanie. I will proudly buy your book Melissa. You have my vote and my support baby!!!!

I cannot stomach Steve and I have to admit I never could. I know this sounds mean, but every time on Pottercast he bothered me with his tangential thoughts and “Trekkie” ideas that he wouldn’t let go of! He drove me crazy with his comparison of the last UK edition cover and insisting that the clouds were the Star Trek ship?Do you all remember that? Is the man a little nutty? Back then Melissa and the gang put up with his nonsense because he was one of them, but here, in this case he clearly put himself outside the circle by once again being defiant and pushy about what he wanted even though it was wrong.

Nobody likes a whiny martyr who spews “Oh woes me, poor me, I’m an outcast…..blah,blah, blah, blah,blah.”

Steve if I could say one thing to you I would say, “Grow up, take responsibility for your actions and apologize to Jo and Melissa.” What’s next Steve? Are you going to try and take down the Pottercast crew, Sue, John and Frak too? LOSER.

Okay, everyone, please comment on my theory, because im really interested to know what others think on this:

Could is possibly be that JK-WB/RDR-SVA have some inside understanding on the judges deliberation at this point that shows how Honerable Judge Robert Patterson is leaning in his decision, and SVA is now trying to get more coverage and more attacks in because its turning towards JK-WB? could it be he is bitter that it looks like his side is going to lose, and he wants to get in a few more low blows like he has been giving out against fans and against jk rowling before the verdict comes out against his and RDR’s wishes, and people start ignoring him in the press?

Jo is God and Melissa is her prophet? snort

Steve is the jealous one, not Jo. This whole thing started from Steve being cut up about not getting enough recognition or reparation for his work on the Lexicon. He has a staggeringly overblown sense of entitlement.

I really hope Steve is being wildly misquoted by all these journalists who seem unable to get any other facts correct in these articles. But if these are his actual quotes, he certainly seems to exhibit a maladroit anti-genius every time he opens his mouth. Someone needs to take him aside and tell him to zip it, because he just digs himself in deeper every time he grants an interview.

He’s like that one relative no one can stand who shows up for all the family gatherings and ends up making some relatives want to kill him, driving other relatives to tears, causing overall dyspepsia and casting a pall of discontent and simmering rage over the entire weekend.

Strange isn’t it, how we all loved the HP Lexicon, frequented it and appreciated the efforts of it’s creator, yet now when Ms Rowling files a lawsuit against him we all side with her and start shunning Mr Vander Ark?

Max, Vande Ark has shunned himself by not only insulting Rowling (without whom there would be no Lexicon; he’s just copying her work), but all the other fansites as well! Have you read the trials, and what he and his lawyers said about Mugglenet? Or this article attacking Melissa for no reason except being on a friendly basis with Rowling? I don’t know about you, but I think that’s reason enough to “shun” Vander Ark.

Strange, isn’t it, how we all thought SVA was a fan and now when he can’t make money off plagiarism he starts turning on people he called friends?