Apropos of nothing - a random HP thought.

[ridicully]

Where does half the fandom get the impression that Harry is cheating by using a book with notes in it?

They are allowed to use their book while brewing and are supposed to have read up on the potion they are preparing in class.
And in written tests, I doubt they are allowed to use their books anyway, so the notes won't be any help to him there.
The only difference I see between Harry and a Ravenclaw (in this instance) is that the Ravenclaw would have made the notes himself - and probably not in the book, but on a spare bit of paper.

Having better reference material is rarely considered cheating. No matter how much of an advantage it gives you.

Comments

Re: here from the Snitch

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

Nope. I had a copy of Sense and Sensibility once that I couldn't bear to read because they'd crossed out all the old spellings and replaced them with modern spellings. *grrs* Oh, and another book I tried to read for some random GLBT literature class (of all things) had "helpful" synonyms written in the margins whenever there was a difficult word.

Re: here from the Snitch

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's just evil. But that's not writing notes, that's... correcting the books? o.o

For the second one, though, I can understand, because presumably the note-maker didn't understand those words, and had to make notes so that he or she could understand it without running to a dictionary every time.

Re: here from the Snitch

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

I can understand it, but I can't appreciate it. That said, it's possible that they came from a country where English isn't a first language. That would be okay, although international students are generally far more polite, and often have a better grip on the language than the rest of us do. :)

I still think they should have rubbed them out.