What did I do this week? Apart from working? Oh, nothing...

Except on Monday evening I caved and got a copy of the allegedly leaked DH (carpet version - that name makes me laugh every time). It took me until now to read it, mainly because dear gods, reading some of these photos was *hard*. My traditional first-read-through reaction post is here but will stay private until Saturday. Should it turn out fake, I'll still turn it public just to publically show I've been fooled on second thought, it's lj-cut and spoiler warned. It can be public. Plus, I need it to check on facts when I'm not at home and logged in.
No spoilers from me either until the book is out. But I liked it. The epilogue was entirely too much for me but otherwise I liked it.

If what I read really turns out to be a fake, I have the deepest respect for the faker. Because that's such a lot of work, it boggles the mind that anyone would put that much work into creating a five-day hoax.

And no, I don't feel bad for having read this. JKR certainly will get my money and if I can in any way arrange it, I will be at the midnight release. (One of the main reasons for reading this beforehand were that I don't know for sure if I can make it. And no way am I going to wait until Monday without reading *something*.)
I don't intend to spoil anyone and enjoyed reading.
Does anything else matter?

Sorry to the non HP folk reading this. These are interesting times, they'll be over soon

Now that I've caught up on my flist, what confuses me the most is the insistence of some people that reading the downloads somehow lessens the experience or turns you into an disgusting, deceiving slime-creature from mars.

These photos certainly weren't easy to read in parts, but just because I read it on the screen without curling up on my couch, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it and only did it because I wanted to be there first.
I don't intend to spoil anyone with it. I will still be giving JKR the money for the book and probably the audiobook as well [and I will be searching for a pdf of it later on too (because ctrl+f is my best friend some days)].
I don't see how this is anything but my personal decision.

Especially I don't see it as any disrespect for the author or publisher. To illustrate, selling books before the official publication date if they've already been delivered happens quite often with the less hyped English books in German bookshops (I often got my new Pratchett's one or two weeks before people in the UK). AFAIKT this isn't done out of disrespect either, but because, really, no one cares that much.
Because of the hype around HP and the spoiler-trolls I can see the need for more caution. But just because some of us want to know a few days earlier what happens, doesn't mean we want to spit on JKR, insult her publishers and refuse to talk with other fans forevermore.
For me, it's really just personal preference if you'd rather read it a bit later but at the same time as the majority of the population and be able to start debating every little thing right away, or if you want to know what happens NOW and will have to content yourself to only squee in private until the rest of the world has caught up.