Don’t be a dick. That’s good advice for life in general, but at the moment I’m saying this in reference to the new Harry Potter book. With just a few days to go before the big release, I’m seeing posts on the net talking about spoilers of the final book–people have gotten advanced copies and blogged an ENTIRE SYNOPSIS (don’t look!), and someone even photographed every page of the book and posted a torrent.

So, do us all a favor: don’t be a dick. Don’t spoil the book for people who don’t want to be spoiled. Be mindful of where (and how loudly) you reveal crucial plot points. It’s bad enough the news will probably report on the ending as if it were, you know, *news*. Like they did with The Sopranos.

And for god’s sake people, when you get the book, take it home and read it. Don’t flip to the last chapter to find out if Harry lives. Pages are numbered for a reason, and it’s not just so you can find your place if your bookmark falls out. You’ve waited this long to find out what happens; surely you can wait just a little bit longer.

And I’m not just talking about regular folks either; remember that bookstore people might want to remain unspoiled as well, and they’ll be at the highest risk of overhearing something they don’t want to. I still remember working at Books-a-Million in the days and weeks prior to the release of The Phantom Menace and that stupid fat fuck who excitedly blabbed to his friend how Liam Neeson’s character dies at the end. Sure, the movie kind of sucked, but I didn’t know that then, and seeing that movie was the thing I was most looking forward to in the whole world at that time. There’s going to be a lot of Harry Potter readers out there who feel the same way.

So don’t be a dick.