Oof. New Pottermore Part 3: The Ugly.

So.... it's finally time huh? Well the kiddie gloves are off.


The absolute worst thing about this whole change is how far in denial Pottermore is. I honestly think the new changes would be tolerable. I've always thought they would be tolerable. There was a lot of negatives about it, but I thought that people would warm up to it all in time, and that if Pottermore played it's cards right, it would be accepted. Kept thinking "Gee, people will be calm about this in a week or two. People'll get tired of being angry and LEAVE within a few days if they still aren't happy."

But oh you readers, you have proven me wrong here. I am so wrong and I couldn't be happier. Not to say that I thought everyone would just go back to normal, but because it means everyone still cares deeply enough to be angry. I thought that people as a whole would sort of fall for the usual trick. Pottermore would ignore us saying it's nothing to care about. We would stop caring, get bored, leave them alone and they'd rebuild, and when the accounts came back it'd be to bigger fanfare than before.

But oh how they royally screwed the pooch. By not including accounts, it REALLY sparked people's concerns. Users, I think they had an inkling, but no clue it'd be that limited. Sorting was out. Wands were out. The ability to log in, gone. Everything that they could have cared about outside of the writing, gone. But the worst part of it is perhaps shown in this section by Pottermore.

The correspondant responds to our comments and reactions.

This was a very poorly thought out plan. Not only is Pottermore sort of losing credibility with fans (at least on FaceBook, where almost every other post is "GIVE US BACK THE OLD SITE YOU GITS")  by not responding to concerns and criticism, but rather the neutral or positive responses, but they actually decided to mock the criticism.  If you notice, very carefully, there is one post that really hit negative on Pottermore. It was the one post where the person looked the most like a crazy person (Not counting the mouth foamy person).

To readers that might not get this, here's an example: CAPSLOCK IS THE INTERNET EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING. IF YOU ARE ALWAYS SHOUTING, IT EITHER MAKES YOU A JERK, CONSTANTLY ANGRY, OR AN IDIOT.  Keeping this in mind, I would say it was basically done, in part, to mock those who detracted from the site. It was subtle. OH how it was subtle. I'm pretty sure many of you may not have even realized that's what was done, and that's exactly why I think it was so insidious and so "ugly." Because to any average person you probably took the correspondant's side, at least a little. She gave a cheeky response to the boobish comment. And unfortunately, that's sort of how Pottermore seems to be taking it's criticism as a whole.

Lewis Black, the man that quite literally is the voice of Anger. 

It's not unreasonable for Pottermore. To them, we lack reason.  The ones that are upset don't matter. We can make fun of them. Let's laugh at the angry people butt-hurt that we took their toy away!

It's the ugly truth of Pottermore. That Pottermore simply doesn't give a damn about the complaints. Not really. And perhaps I have that knowledge to thank for my buddah-like zen when facing this
change (not withstanding the current Lewis Black-esque performance here). Because goodness knows, they think you're all mouth breathing, rage spewing rubes! RUBES!

But hey, I could be wrong. Pottermore could be taking us seriously. Just as seriously as you might be taking me here. Or not. But the point remains.

That response to comments by the Pottermore Correspondant is by far the personification of everything that is wrong with this change.

Oh, and if you still think I'm a little unhinged...

This is Capslock+critique.

This is Capslock without Critique. 

From here, I invite you all to come to your own conclusion. 

Has the Bad and Ugly outweighted the good? Are you giving Pottermore any chance here? Have you jumped on to HEX or Hogwarts is Here? Do you think the fandom has behaved like a band of raving psychopaths fresh off of the latest Mad Max? 

Leave your thoughts below.