The Owls Are Gathering?

[Miranda Tarkin]

http://www.pottermore.com/

:huh what could it be?

[Droo]

Six days. :D

[Dasquian Belargic]

Until what?!

[Droo]

My money is on the Potter encyclopedia. :)

[Miranda Tarkin]

Ah yes! She did talk about that! Regardless, at least it has to be Potter related!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I think you're probably right, Droo. 3 days and 18 hours to go...

[Jedi Master Carr]

My money is on the Potter encyclopedia. :)

That would make the most sense, the other rumors are some sort of a new website (could be something interactive), or a new MMORGP. Not sure about the latter because I am not sure if Rowling would be that involved in anything like that.

I am going to guess a virtual online encyclopedia maybe it could include games and ways to interact with other members.

[Atreyu]

A Potter encyclopadia would be my guess as well - we've all known that it was in the works, especially following the legal strife with the HP Lexicon when they tried to do their own version.

[Droo]

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oYs1d3jAdG0?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oYs1d3jAdG0?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Sounds... interesting? Educational? :huh

[Jedi Master Carr]

I was right about it being a virtual encyclopedia at least that will be one feature. It also does look like it will be heavily educational which is a good thing. I am not clear will it cost money to visit it outside of the shop section?

[Dasquian Belargic]

I guess the website is getting hammered today because I have been trying all day long to register and it's always knocked me back. I bet that trying to get one of the covetted early spots on July 31st is going to be even harder! I wonder what those lucky people will be doing between then and the official public opening date... it almost feels like you'd be getting the Golden Ticket to Wonka's factory!

[Atreyu]

O ... k. o_O

That left me a bit confused. I guess we'll have to wait until it's released to know the full details.

[Jedi Master Carr]

O ... k. o_O

That left me a bit confused. I guess we'll have to wait until it's released to know the full details.

Well some of it sounds like a form of facebook or something where you can register and be members and play games with other members. They are also going to be selling things on the shop, including ebooks of the potter books. It also looks like the site will cover each book virtually from beginning to end. There will be additionally scenes cut out of the books that will fill in backstory. It sounds interesting and it could be cool if done right.

[Atreyu]

O ... k. o_O

That left me a bit confused. I guess we'll have to wait until it's released to know the full details.

Well some of it sounds like a form of facebook or something where you can register and be members and play games with other members. They are also going to be selling things on the shop, including ebooks of the potter books. It also looks like the site will cover each book virtually from beginning to end. There will be additionally scenes cut out of the books that will fill in backstory. It sounds interesting and it could be cool if done right.
You got all that from the video? I'm impressed - I didn't get even a fraction of that (aside from fans somehow interacting with one another).

[Jedi Master Carr]

O ... k. o_O

That left me a bit confused. I guess we'll have to wait until it's released to know the full details.

Well some of it sounds like a form of facebook or something where you can register and be members and play games with other members. They are also going to be selling things on the shop, including ebooks of the potter books. It also looks like the site will cover each book virtually from beginning to end. There will be additionally scenes cut out of the books that will fill in backstory. It sounds interesting and it could be cool if done right.
You got all that from the video? I'm impressed - I didn't get even a fraction of that (aside from fans somehow interacting with one another).

Actually, I got that from the press release. The video isn't very clear.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Closer and closer to the day when the first lucky people will be able to get onto this site.. :ohno Now that the movies are over, this is all the Potter we have to look forward to! :cry (..unless they make some comics!)

[Miranda Tarkin]

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works/doesn't work. I'm sure it will be a hit but Jen, even comics are probably wishful thinking. After watching the last movie last night, it would sully the series

but yes :cry

[Dasquian Belargic]

Todays the day!!

July 31st! The day one million people get a sneak preview!

Right now (1am GMT) the site is just refusing to work but apparently the preview sign-ups won't open until 12 noon (again, GMT)

[Miranda Tarkin]

ah so 6 am my time eh :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

Day 1 registration is closed! I got in literally in the last 10 mins by applying in bed. My username will be DragonWombat45 (:lol they randomly assign one to you) - though I haven't received my confirmation email yet... :ohno come on. Here's how the whole contest is working: https://www.pottermore.com/en/help#magical-quill

BTW if you manage to 'find the Magical Quill' and get to the registration page, you get an awesome picture of your name in a book along side all the canon chars saying "You are magical!" :eee (with registering on my phone, sadly I couldnt screenshot but here's one from somebody on twitter: http://twitpic.com/5yqhxg)

[Miranda Tarkin]

Us Americans are going to have a hard time getting in >_> Good job Jen!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I've heard rumours that the next clue will go up at midnight GMT tonight, so you should have a better chance then.

Here's the confirmation email you get once you've registered (or about 40 mins after, in my case):


Your Pottermore account

Welcome and thank you for registering for Pottermore by J.K. Rowling - the magical new online experience based around the Harry Potter books.

A million registrants are going to be granted early entry into Pottermore to help give it the finishing touches, and the exciting news is that if you validate your account quickly, you could be one of the lucky few selected. Please be quick because places are going to be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis*.

Once you validate your email address, you get to log in and are presented with the 2nd image below!

EDIT: The log-in screen has been updated to say this:


Congratulations!
You’ve successfully validated your early access Pottermore account. You will be one of the lucky few to shape the experience before the site opens to all in October.

You may have to wait a few weeks for your Welcome email to arrive as we can’t let everyone into the Beta site at the same time.

We look forward to seeing you.

[Dasquian Belargic]

From the official Pottermore blog: http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/07/magical-quill-registration-for-day-1.html


We will also be varying the time each clue is revealed – as well as the difficulty of the clues – to give as many people as possible a chance to register for early access.

So it looks like you basically just need to keep checking the site, whenever possible, to see if the clue is up. Alternatively, watch Twitter because although they won't announce when the clue is up, you will probably notice Pottermore trending at the point that the next clue becomes available!


Finally, we will not be enabling early access to the site straight away. Once The Magical Quill challenge is over, we will send successful early access registrants a Welcome email, letting them know when they will be able to access Pottermore. We won’t be able to let everyone into the Beta site at the same time, so please be patient with us.

It looks like once you've registered, it's going to take a couple of weeks to actually get your access into Pottermore itself since they seem to be doing a staggered entry. Everything on the site indicates that if you got the first email, and therefore have a username/password, you will get in early. You just have to be patient ^_^;

[Miranda Tarkin]

I will have to live vicariously through Jen. No way am I making it in cuz I missed it again.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I can try and register for you if you like? Just gimme your email address and if I see a clue I'll get on it. I saw the 2nd one today at 11am GMT and it was full about 10 mins later, so it must have gone up at 10ish since they seem to fill up the try slots after an hour or so.

[Miranda Tarkin]

You are darling!!! You can try if you want :D I will float you a PM

[Miranda Tarkin]

YES I GOT IN WOOOO! Waiting on email confirmation now at this point and hah I'm Moonglow13 XD

[Dasquian Belargic]

So glad you got in :eee also is that an HP desktop background I spy? hehe

[Miranda Tarkin]

Maybe :ohno

haha yeah, it's Hermione in the forefront but the browser is blocking it. <3 Hermione ... loathe her and Ron :grumble

[Emelie Shadowstar]

:3 Owlskull159 is me.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Early registration is over, so now we wait for our emails to say when we are going to get access. I am wondering whether they are going to let people who signed up on the first day in first, or if they are going to randomise it.. hmmmm...

EDIT: Beta invites are apparently going out 'over the coming weeks' to just a 'small number of people' initially: http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/08/beta-testing-and-registering-for.html

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/08/pottermore-beta-latest.html


UPDATE: Another batch of Welcome emails was sent out on Friday 19 August, at approximately 12:30pm (BST).

At the start of this week, we sent 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. In just four days 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.

:shakefist

[Miranda Tarkin]

I second that.

[Daria Nytherciria]

Seriously, I thought early entry was going to give us like.. more than a month of extra access. At this rate, by the time we get in there they will already have changed a bunch of stuff :(

[Miranda Tarkin]

Yeah. It's the end of August and that means maybe a month and half before it opens? They never said what time in October (My guess is Halloween?) I think there are only 20-40,000 that have been allowed entry so far outta the 1 mil O_o

I realize server stability and all but I figured they would stagger it a bit better

[Daria Nytherciria]

I suspect that they might be dividing the early entrants by geography. There must have been a metric fucktonne of Brits got in on the first couple of days, followed by lots of Americans near the end, and they probably want people from all over the shop testing it, if it's multilingual.

[Dasquian Belargic]

UPDATE: Another batch of Welcome emails was sent out on Monday 22 August, at approximately 17:15 pm (BST) :(

[Dasquian Belargic]

I got my email last night.. I've been sorted into Gryffindor :cry

[Miranda Tarkin]

Well, lucky for getting the damn email! I haven't gotten a thing yet!

But at least you're not a Hufflepuff. That is still my fear

[Dasquian Belargic]

There is really no way to fix the Sorting Ceremony, I think. It was not at all obvious from the answers I was choosing which house I was going to end up in. but yes, at least it wasn't Hufflepuff!

I've already added you, Melanie and Sarah as friends on there, so when you finally get in you'll have a friend request waiting :)

[Miranda Tarkin]

Awesome! I can't wait for my owl so we can frolic in Pottermore! :D