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Kids Improve Writing Online
aelfric35 writes "Ben Franklin advised his son not to allow schooling to interfere with his education. Even though many have disparaged the effects of IM on schoolchildrens' prose, some kids are actually becoming better writers by participating in online communities. Henry Jenkins writes in MIT's Technology Review about how some kids are gaining writing and editorial experience far beyond what their schools can offer by participating in Harry Potter fan fiction forums (sorry about the alliteration)."
"Harry Potter fan fiction forums"
.. anything from "harry has affectionate thoughts for [random male cast member]" to "harry rapes/gets raped by [random male cast member] using a monkey, a tub of lard, a spare tire, and a crowbar". In between is a mix of bondage, teenage romance (with [random male cast member]), and some more bondage.
Yea, I know a lot of these Harry Potter writers. They have a pretty broad range of topics....
Something about the little dude seems to have drawn together every slash writer that can put together a coherent sentence (and most who can't).
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but don't be fooling yourselves.
Sure, you're 12 year old daughter is imagining herself as a wizard at Hogwarts, flying around on a broomstick and chasing dragons. Just remember that at the end of the day when the classes are over and the dragons are chased, she'll be in the back-room, sodomizing little harry potter with her broomstick.
i have perhaps met three people who know english. english is a hack, of many different languages and dialects, warped and twisted generation after generation. i sure has hell don't claim to know english.
seriously though, why should anyone be expected to learn a language as bloated, and crufty as english? while i have yet find a replacement(esperanto?), i think if it is understandable, that is all that matters. isn't that what the point of a language is, in the first place? to get meaning/information from one point to another?
this thinking people as worse because of their incapability to learn a near-impossible language is just naieve. there's infinitely more important things to do than learn how to communicate absurdly more accurately.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Loose = what Bill Clinton lists as job requirements for interns. Lose = what GWB does at elections.
Subtle difference.