Connotations can be tricky, certainly. But I might also point out that you seem to be highly suspicious of my motivations. Can't you see that what I wrote tonight was an attempt to help other people? I certainly can't help it if the person who told me about the rumour about the squid said that a Slytherin told her that. Perhaps she is gullible...but there is no point in getting angry at me for saying the person who told it to her wasn't telling her the truth. I suppose it might have been different if she had said 'a left-handed person told me this' or 'a person with curly hair told me this.' But we tend to lump people in groups in our minds using the Houses, rather than other characteristics, and the Houses seem more personal, somehow.

I do think using the journals sometimes makes some conversations difficult, too, because you can't see tone of voice or facial expression in the written word, and so things may sound more hurtful or sarcastic in a way the person truly didn't mean.

I think I know what you mean, about some people trying to get the visitors' attention. I am not sure whether their attempts are working very well, however.