I got into HP something like six months before OotP came out, maybe a bit more. The fandom was already massive by then and still growing. A lot of things have changed over the years. Definitely most of the old guard have moved on to newer fandoms, yet we're still getting fresh blood even now from people who either only lurked before, or have just discovered the books.
even in between the books, JKR would reveal new information that might debunk an entire WIP
Yeah, it used to drive me up the wall when she did that! I remember her going out of her way to shut down fan theories she'd read online because she thought that fans spending time considering them "wasn't productive" since they were never going to happen. It really boggled me that she apparently couldn't understand how speculation could be enjoyable in itself, even leaving aside the relationship to fanfic specifically. Maybe her intention was for people not to be devastated by disappointment when their pet theory didn't come true, but it seemed totally unnecessary and purely anti-fun to me at the time.
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Date: 2015-05-20 02:09 pm (UTC)even in between the books, JKR would reveal new information that might debunk an entire WIP
Yeah, it used to drive me up the wall when she did that! I remember her going out of her way to shut down fan theories she'd read online because she thought that fans spending time considering them "wasn't productive" since they were never going to happen. It really boggled me that she apparently couldn't understand how speculation could be enjoyable in itself, even leaving aside the relationship to fanfic specifically. Maybe her intention was for people not to be devastated by disappointment when their pet theory didn't come true, but it seemed totally unnecessary and purely anti-fun to me at the time.