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One of the news articles that J K Rowling wrote on her old website was about how she tried posting Book 7 theories on Mugglenet's chatroom.

Monday 15 March 2004
Mugglenet Chatroom Uninterested in JKR's Theories
A few weeks ago I did something I’ve never done before and took a stroll into a Harry Potter chat room: specifically, MuggleNet’s chat room. Although I was concerned to find that many of the moderators feel their spiritual home is Slytherin, this is a great site. Nobody was remotely interested in my theories about what’s going to happen in book seven, though. In the end, I gave up trying to impart any gems of wisdom and joined in the discussion about SpongeBob SquarePants (don’t ask).
I would like to take this opportunity to say that the practise of calling Lord Voldemort ‘Voldie’ must stop, as must the insistence that with a bit of therapy ‘Voldie’ would be a real sweetheart.
I might drop in again some time to check that you’ve done as you’ve been told. Look out for ‘Squidward’.

In a 2023 podcast interview, JK Rowling discussed this incident again.

So I chose a random name that was not a potter-related name. I was almost scared, even though they’ve all got potter-related names, that I would choose a name that was a little, I don’t know, I was just scared I would somehow rule for self-reveal. So I go into this chatroom and people are sharing some theories and I gave an opinion that was very bland and I got rounded on by users who told me in no uncertain terms just to get out. I’m not familiar in that room, I’m clearly an idiot who doesn’t know anything. But I genuinely, and I left, I left, and I was thinking, I do know what, I promise you this is what I thought. I thought: “I’ve written three and a half books, I think it would have been at that time, where bullying is such a thing from the very first page where bullying and authoritarian behavior is held to be one of the worst of human ills.”

Is it known what these theories were? Are there any copies of the chat?

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    the funniest thing is that other users told her that she didn't know a thing about Harry Potter: accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm
    – A. Darwin
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 7:22
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    I suspect she fell into the trap that a lot of authors do, assuming that despite attempting to present herself as just another anonymous user, she then started acting as if she was the author. If she wanted respect, she could easily have contacted the site-owners and scheduled a web-chat.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 7:53
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    I don't have a copy, but I seem to recall reading over it. The "theories" she had were just what was going to actually happen in Book 7 prior to the release, but was dismissed. This has happened occasionally other IPs I know, so it doesn't sound that far off.
    – Vogie
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 22:14

1 Answer 1

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I found this transcript in which the IRC moderator believes it is the history of JKR on Mugglenet. In case it ever goes down, here are some tidbits. At the end the moderator confronts her about who she really she, and she gets all aloof and stops coming on Mugglenet. For clarity I have replaced [Name Edited] with [JKR].

This is before Half-blood Prince was released, but after the title was announced.

She repeatedly says that Lupin is a Half Blood. My read is that she is trying to lead people in the wrong direction about the identity of the Half-Blood prince. end of the comment []s are the commentary of the person who compiled the logs.

([JKR]) LUPIN IS HALF BLOOD
([JKR]) Lupin is Halfblood [She loves saying this in the chat. . .]
([JKR]) LUPIN IS THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE [Much more blatant; it came very early in the [JKR] saga, back when noone realized [Name Edited] could be/is JKR]
([JKR]) if you read that chat, JKR gives full answers to all the questions she gets
([JKR]) apart from the ONE question where they ask her what Lupin is
([JKR]) all she replies to that is "Half Blood"
([JKR]) and goes straight onto the next question
([JKR]) JKR said clearly in her most recent chat Lupin IS HALF BLOOD
([JKR]) she didnt say anymore on that at all
([JKR]) that was before she released the title
([JKR]) someone asked her on world book day chat

JKR fishing trying to get people to find clues in GoF chapter 9.

([JKR]) btw, I reckon Chapter 9 of GoF is VERY special
([JKR]) we all ought to read it again
([JKR]) JKR said in anohter interview back in 2001, that she had Chapter 9 of GOF was sooooo difficult for her to write that she had to rewrite it 1213 times, and almost considered just leaving it out and going onto Chapter 10 with a page saying "chapter 9 was too tricky to write"..... ([JKR]) JKR said in anohter interview back in 2001, that she had Chapter 9 of GOF was sooooo difficult for her to write that she had to rewrite it 1213 times, and almost considered just leaving it out and going onto Chapter 10 with a page saying "chapter 9 was too tricky to write".....
([JKR]) it means there's something in Chapter 9 that she had to write VERY VERY carefully

She focuses a lot of Harry's scar, Harry's survival, and how people who die in Harry Potter never come back.

([JKR]) Josh from Cottenham Village College: Right at the beginning, when Voldermort tried to kill Harry, how did Voldermort and Harry both survive?
([JKR]) JK Rowling replies > That is the crucial and central question and if I answered it there would be hardly any point writing books six and seven... so I won't!
([JKR]) she says the shape of the scar is not the most important thing about it, but something else is.... WHAT IS IT?

([JKR]) is it possible JK's tricked everyone into thinking harry and/or voldemort HAS to die?
([JKR]) after all she did say that she and Madame Trelawney had worded the Prophecy very carefully

([JKR]) she said Sirius wont come back from the dead
([JKR]) that once the character is gone, he's gone
([JKR]) but to base a whole book on Sirius
([JKR]) to make out he's actually really important
([JKR]) and may be heavily involved in the outcome of the series
([JKR]) and then to go and kill him off
([JKR]) there has to be a pretty good reason..
([JKR]) ?

([JKR]) JKR has said in an interview clearly, that once her character was killed off, there was no way he/she was coming back
([JKR]) this was in the run up to OOTP's release
([JKR]) WHY DOES DUMBLEDORE TRUST SNAPE??
([JKR]) pettigrew's new silver hand is AWFUL STRONG
([JKR]) draco's going to be murderous because his father's been put into azkaban

On the mention of Spongebob Squarepants.

([JKR]) JK would never admit she was JK on here
([JKR]) and she's probably show a surprising amount of knowledge on whatever the random topic is being discussed
([JKR]) even if it IS spongebob squarepants

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  • That is so obvious if it was her
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 14:31
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    The thing is that she supposedly visited once, not several times over two weeks.
    – ibid
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 14:57
  • @ibid nothing about that original quote says it was only once. Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 16:05
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    There are a lot of typos in there that seem atypical for Rowling. Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 10:30
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    @TheDarkLord if it's IRC you're trying to typ fst and might mak silly typos.
    – auden
    Commented Aug 1, 2018 at 21:47

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