Going Against the Grain of Potter Cliches

[DHBirr]

Ummm, I would think it counts as canon reality that the people in charge reflexively label as wrong, evil, etc., anything new they find threatening to the established order.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Bob Schroeck]

That they do. But we see no evidence that the Ministry does so as a matter of course, contributing in large part to the "backwards" state of Wizarding Britain, as hypothesized by numerous fics.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Ebony]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

That they do. But we see no evidence that the Ministry does so as a matter of course, contributing in large part to the "backwards" state of Wizarding Britain, as hypothesized by numerous fics.

I would say, rather, that the Ministry probably has a wide body of research on a variety of forms of magic from across the world, though some of it may be out of date, since the research was initially performed during the days of the British Empire. But, they would have in place a tried and true set of protocols for assessing the potentials of other magic systems (in particular those originating from Australia, North America, the West Indies, India, China, and possibly southern Africa). 
  
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Hazard]

Something else to consider is that new magic is may be dangerous because it's not yet been properly tested, and would any of you seriously trust much of the Wizarding World with something that hasn't been properly idiot proofed? It's quite possible that atleast part of the magic classified as Dark is classified as such to keep it out of the hands of the public until it's been properly studied, after which they declassify as Dark Magic.

And this would actually be a sane and reasonable line of thinking, if not necessarily wise and well thought out.

[Star Ranger4]

Jorlem wrote:

---

Oh, here's another fanfic cliche: custom made wands being superior to Ollivander's standard stock. 
According to Pottermore, and this wiki page, before the current Ollivander took over the family business, everyone had custom wands made, with materials they chose.  (This is how Fleur's wand was made.)  The current Ollivander invented a system that matched powerful cores (he only uses three types) with different types of woods (many types), and then let the wand choose the wizard, instead of the other way around.  Ollivander's method is recognized as producing superior, better matched wands than the custom method, so not only is the custom wand thing a cliche, it directly goes against canon.

Just had a fridge logic moment as to why that might be.
Assumption:  Treat Magical energies as a unified waveform that responds to the users input.Assumption:  Given that each person is different due to life experiences, et all, their personal energy input to the equation is equally unique
Result:  the wood and core choices for wands act like a transformer, changing ones' personal energy frequency to one that best interacts with the existing waveform.  This could imply why Ollivander wands have such better results, not so much because of the custom vs mass production, but rather because of the large number of cores/wood combinations he can provide the best 'transformer' result.  This would also explain why even after having taken so many measurements Ollivander still must have a client try up to a fairly large number of wood/core combinations to match 'frequencies'
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Pyeknu]

I personally have never cared for Pottermore myself . . . but that's me.