Wizarding World (website)

House Pride Week

Last week we posted a message on Twitter to announce the start of Pottermore house pride week, a four-day celebration of the Hogwarts houses.

We asked our Twitter followers to support their particular house with messages that highlighted the characteristics they felt embodied their particular house, using a specific hashtag each day so we could see all the messages and choose our favourites to retweet.

Day one of house pride week was dedicated to the 'cunning' students of Slytherin. They kicked off the week with some nice snake-based puns, and some great explanations of what it really means to wear the green and silver.

(Tweets pictured via @Sk31943 and @PotterWorldUK.)

The Slytherins were a tough act to follow, but the Hufflepuffs did themselves proud on Wednesday. Of course, the famous good nature and general 'niceness' of those in yellow and black was the main topic of conversation.

(Tweets pictured via RenaLever and @Emanlonden).

Thursday was the day for the smart Ravenclaws to speak up and, as you might expect, they rose to the challenge with particular vim and vigour, employing word play to show off their smarts whilst letting everyone know that being humble is a big part of being clever.

(Tweets pictured via @ANerdyStarKid and @RavenclawTweets.)

And finally, Friday belonged to the Gryffindors for one final day of house pride. The students in scarlet and gold didn't let us down, roaring out the week with messages of bravery, daring and chivalry.

(Tweets pictured via @SecretWizard7 and @parisawulfric.)

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in house pride week, we loved reading all your messages, and we're sorry we couldn't retweet them all. Posted by Pottermore Editor at 17:15 Tuesday, 20 September 2011 Accessing Pottermore

UPDATED ON FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

Update at 14:00 BST: The site is now available again.

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Pottermore will be offline from approximately 10:30am (BST) today. The downtime will last approximately three hours.

We are taking the site offline in order to apply a number of updates and bug fixes. The most important of these will allow us to invite more Beta users to the site.

We are nearing the end of September and the culmination of the Beta period that we outlined back in July. We had hoped to send out Welcome emails to all our Beta testers by this stage but, due to the phenomenal amount of activity and interaction taking place on Pottermore over the past few weeks, we have had to balance the number of Beta users against the performance and stability of the site.

As a result, we still have Welcome emails to send out. We are hoping to send out the remaining emails over the next few days and we will be updating this blog again on Monday. While we can't reply directly to questions posted on Twitter, we have been collecting your comments and queries (as well as the information you've sent us via the 'Beta feedback' button) and we'll try to answer the most-asked questions next week here on the Insider.

Thank you all for your patience and the feedback and comments you've given us so far. The reaction to Pottermore has far exceeded our expectations and we're working as hard as we can to make sure even more people can share in the Pottermore experience. Posted by Pottermore Editor at 18:30 Thursday, 8 September 2011 Welcome emails to go out daily Last night, Thursday 8 September, at approximately 10:00pm (BST), we sent out some more Welcome emails.

The good news is that we no longer expect to pause sending these (as mentioned in our Beta testing and Welcome emails post). Instead, we plan to send emails out daily over the next two weeks. As always, there’s a chance that our plans may alter as we assess the site and how it is reacting to new users but we will update you if anything changes.

For those who will be joining Pottermore over the next two weeks, don’t forget to read our From duelling to potions post and check our Help page for answers to any other questions you have about the site. Posted by Pottermore Editor at 18:56 Friday, 2 September 2011 From duelling to potions

In today’s Insider post, we answer your questions on duelling, Beta feedback, moderation, and potions.

‘… It'd be nice to know IF Wizard Dueling will be available to beta testers again. I don't care when, just a yes or no.’ [sic] cwbrumm

Yes! We know that you like Wizard’s Duel - a lot. This section of the site has proven to be immensely popular and we’ve been making a number of improvements behind the scenes to ensure that it runs as smoothly as possible. We just need to finish making and testing our changes.

‘I'm wondering how helpful the BETA feedback really will be… I can only click boxes to tell them if I enjoy the site and if it runs smoothly. I wish I could tell them what I find helpful, and what I think would improve the site.’ [sic] silverquillXX

If you suspect there’s a technical issue with one of the Pottermore pages, you can click on the ‘Beta feedback’ button (located in the bottom right-hand corner of the site). Select the page you are on, then go to the ‘The page loads and works well on my screen’ option.

While you won’t be able to give specific details, if you choose one of the ‘disagree’ buttons, we’ll know that we should re-visit that page and carry out testing.

In the next few weeks, we’ll also be sending out a Pottermore Beta survey. Along with opinion-related questions there will also be a space for you to add comments, so you’ll be given a chance to tell us specific details if there’s something you think we should know about.

‘Do you know why a comment in your house common room might be "under moderation?" Each comment I make won't post and it says that. I have not used bad language, said anything nasty, or broken any rules…’ [sic] Anonymous

Comments are automatically moderated if they use language that cannot be immediately confirmed to be within the Pottermore Terms & Conditions. The good news is that as more and more comments are approved through the moderation process the ‘allowed’ language list grows, so future comments that use identical words should appear on the site faster.

It can sometimes be difficult to work out why a particular comment you’ve posted doesn’t make it onto the site straight away.

If you see that one of your comments is under moderation, please wait until you receive a ‘confirmed’ or ‘declined’ message from the moderation team before trying to comment in the same place again – otherwise you might end up posting the same thing multiple times!

‘potions take way too long to brew #pottermore :/’ [sic] Lynsey_Ward

We’ve noticed that people are finding that the potion brewing times are too long, so we’re making some tweaks to these. You’ll see the changes implemented in the coming weeks.

Please keep the feedback coming and, remember, if you’d like further information you can visit Pottermore’s Help section. Posted by Pottermore Editor at 18:29 Thursday, 25 August 2011 Beta testing and Welcome emails As you know, we’re using the Pottermore Beta period to make sure that Pottermore is the best it can be before it opens to all in October but we’ve noted some important questions cropping up …

‘Dear Pottermore. I'm taking the time to write this to remind you that I am not a squib. I want my letter now, please.’ [sic] heelsoverheaad

‘… I really think you should have sent another owl with my letter ... Errol really isn't up for long flights anymore.’ TheShepard10

We know that you’re all checking your inboxes every time we send an update announcing that Welcome emails have gone out.

As you’ll remember from our previous Insider post, we need to start the Beta with a very small number of people in order to properly test Pottermore and collect feedback.

We know that waiting can be frustrating but the good news is that, as the Beta progresses, we’ll be increasing the number of emails we send out at any one time.

‘… Will you at least put up a schedule to let us know when the next batch of Welcome mails come out for us still waiting?’ ToxisGrey

Beta phases are fluid and it’s important to watch and see how a site reacts to increasing amounts of users and activity.

Every time more people are added to Pottermore, we take a pause and look at how the site is responding to see if everything is working as we expect it to and whether we need to make changes before we let more people into Pottermore.

We are planning on giving more people early access over the next week or so and then we will pause sending Welcome emails for a while so that we can see how things are going.

Unfortunately, we can’t create a schedule to share, as we need to respond to what we learn with each group of new users. That’s also why there are gaps between the batches of Welcome emails; it all depends on what we’re learning from those who are currently on the site.

‘… Is it only when you send a batch out that we have the potential to receive an email? Or are there always emails being sent out?’ LoganGustke

We always announce on the Insider and @Pottermore when Welcome emails are sent out, but sometimes these can take a while to arrive in your inbox, so you might get yours after the announced time. It’s always best to wait for your email to arrive before you try to log in.

‘… I've been hearing this rumour that if you haven't received your welcome letter yet and someone who has adds you as a friend on Pottermore, you may get in faster. Is there any evidence that this is true?’[sic] Chip Davis

We aren’t quite sure where this rumour started but, no, it isn’t true.

‘What was the point of scrambling for early Pottermore registration if not all of those would get in to the beta? This process is weird.’ [sic] ljishie

The Magical Quill campaign identified who would have access to the Beta. Everyone who found the Magical Quill will get the chance to give us their feedback on Pottermore.

‘… how can I make #PottermoreArt if I haven't seen the site?’ SandCauldronXX

We know that many fans have been creating Harry Potter based artwork for years and Pottermore will be another place for them to share this. While you can’t upload videos and music files to Pottermore, you can post original drawings and sketches.

There are also lots of fans out there who aren’t part of the Beta, and fans who are creating songs and videos; we want to give these people a place to show what that they’ve been creating, too.

Posted by Pottermore Editor at 19:18 Thursday, 18 August 2011 Pottermore Beta: the latest

On Monday 15 August, we began sending out Welcome emails to a small number of Beta users. These people have been busy exploring the site, leaving comments to tell us when they like something, and making suggestions when they find something they would like us to improve. We’ve learned an awful lot and, as a result, have started making changes to improve the Pottermore experience.

We know that a lot of people are eager to receive their Welcome emails and that it’s difficult to wait but, as we mentioned in our earlier blog post, we’re staggering entry to Pottermore and to start with we’re only letting a small number of people onto the site.

While we can’t tell you exactly when you’ll receive your Welcome email, we will update this blog post to let you know whenever a new batch of Welcome emails has been sent out, so keep visiting the Insider and watching our Twitter feed. Posted by Pottermore Editor at 19:00 Monday, 15 August 2011 Beta testing (and registering for October)

We’re excited to announce that early access to Pottermore has begun, so if you’re one of the million people who found The Magical Quill and registered for early access, please read the rest of this Insider post carefully.

The most important thing to know is that we need to stagger entry to the ‘Beta’ (early) version of Pottermore so we can properly collect all the feedback. To begin with, we’ll be inviting a very small number of people onto the website, so you may not receive your Welcome email straight away.

We’ll be sending those Welcome emails out over the coming weeks and, once yours arrives, you’ll be able to log in and start helping us develop the Pottermore experience.

As Pottermore Beta users, you’ll be exploring all the different elements of the site and, hopefully, sharing your thoughts with us along the way. How? By using the ‘Beta feedback’ button. You’ll find it located at the bottom right-hand corner of every page on the site, and this is what it looks like:

It’s important for us to know what you enjoy about the site, what you would like to see improved, and that you tell us about any parts you think aren’t working smoothly.

As well as the ‘Beta feedback’ button on the site itself, we’ll also send each Beta user a survey to complete, asking some detailed questions about the Pottermore website.

All this information will be collated and analysed to help make Pottermore as enjoyable, interesting and easy-to-use as possible.

A note on registering for October

Very soon, we’ll be opening Pottermore registration for October. This means:

- If you have submitted your email address to be notified when registration is open to all, then you’ll be hearing from us soon, and you'll be able to register for entry in October.

- If you asked to be notified when registration was open to all but also registered for Beta, then you may receive two emails from us. You do not have to register for October if you already have a validated early access (Beta) account. In other words, if you received a Beta ‘Congratulations!’ message then you can ignore the ‘Pottermore registration is now open’ email (although do feel free to forward it to your friends!).

We’ll be updating the Insider with all the latest Pottermore news and information, so please continue to visit the blog.

See you soon! Posted by Pottermore Editor at 15:47