Note (added 8/29/2011): This post was written 8/15/2011, the day the Pottermore Beta Test opened… and before I gained access. I have since written about my own first impressions of Pottermore.
Original post starts here (8/15/2011)…
UPDATE: We now have an eyewitness account from inside Pottermore! See the Comments thread for details! Warning: The Comments Contain Mild Spoilers!
Also… if you have been inside Pottermore and would like to share your experience, feel free to add your comments to the Comments thread below. We’d love to hear what you have to say!
Original post starts here…
I was taking a Math exam when the “Sign In” button reappeared, so I’m a bit late reporting it.
BUT… Pottermore Beta testing has begun.
I have not yet received my Welcome email. According to the Pottermore Insider they will be letting in a “very small number of people onto the website” at first. But they will continue to be activating accounts for the next few weeks.
For those of you who have already gotten early access, please let us know in the Comments what you’re experiencing. Here are some of the questions I have, but please feel free to add anything you think is worth letting us know about:
1. Can you move back and forth through the chapters?
2. Do you get your wand and go through sorting first? Or do you have to wait for the Diagon Alley and Sorting Hat chapters before you can get your wand and get sorted?
3. What does it look like inside? Can you contact other members? Can you see other members?
We’re all curious… so please let us know.
Note: Don’t read the Comments if you don’t want spoilers!
I’ll also be checking forums where people I know have access, and will report back on what I can.
For the rest of us, it looks like it’s time to start waiting for that email that really means “Welcome to Pottermore!”
This description is used by permission from ardnaxela on the Chamber of Secrets forum. She originally posted it under the spoiler tag in this post:
wow can’t wait for my owl to come now :D
Me too!
House Histories:
Details have started to leak about the House histories. But ardnaxela, who provided the behind-the-scenes look above, demonstrated on the CoS forum that posting the backstories themselves is against the Pottermore Terms & Conditions.
So I have removed links to posts that copy content from Pottermore. The last thing I want is for Expecto Patronum! to get into trouble with JKR.
So in place of links, here are some one-word descriptions gleaned from the House histories:
Spoiler alert added because these descriptions may not be what you you normally think…
Ravenclaw
Eccentric
Slytherin
Edgy
Hufflepuff
Protective
Gryffindor
Pompous
(or maybe that’s just Percy) ;)
I know which traits appeal to me. Which appeal to you?
UPDATE: The site administrator at CoS has since issued a warning against copying/pasting material from Pottermore and posting it on that site.
Eccentric :) can’t wait to get into Pottermore! :)
Yeah. I thought that was soooooo cool! Before the House details came out I was torn between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Now I’m torn between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. ;)
Sounds amazing! No owl my way yet, but I signed up on Day Four.
I’m Day 1 and no owl yet. :(
My first comment ^^
I’ve read most of analysis and I must say: I love them. Congratulations, your site is amazing!
I can’t wait to enter in Pottermore and I’m trying to avoid reading the spoilers in the CoS Forum, but I had to read the Mcgonagall’s story.
I would love to discover how the firsts users were selected…
PS: My first language is not English, I’m sorry for any mistakes.
Your English is fine. :) And welcome to the blog!
Thank you for the compliments. :blush:
I read the House histories but have been avoiding the McGonnnagall story. :)
We don’t know yet how the first users were selected. It seems to be either a random selection or by demographics. It’s a pretty small number, though – at least in terms of the number of people who’ve been sorted.
Fred and George forced me, I couldn’t avoid it:
I solemnly swear I’m up to no good
Ravenclaw history
Mischeif Managed
I don’t think it is being by demographics: we are able to change our country.
My best guess is 7000 (ou 7777) people were allowed to enter the site.
Well… If I can’t enter now, I’m hoping to enter in the 1st of September (the day when Kings Cross’ train arrives).
Fred & George made you do it! LOL.
Last I heard, about 3500 people had been sorted. So the number they let in today is probably pretty small.
I definitely hope I’m in by the 1st of September! :)
Thanks for posting the extracts here. I’m also at that forum, but lack the patience to keep up with that thread! I love all three of the House descriptions.
Hi Z – I just rescued your comment from the Spam filter… no idea what it was doing there!
Glad that you like the extracts. I read the Pottermore thread pretty thoroughly this afternoon when I saw the button (right after my exam). :)
But yeah, it’s moving too fast for me now.
how do I get the measurements section unlocked in chapter 1??
I got an answer to your question from MerryLore on Chamber of Secrets:
I skim read the house histories. Didn’t want to read too in depth, though. Coulen’t help it.
No Owl yet, except for me. Didn’t expect one since I didn’t get registered until Day 4.
OwlSun126
The activation so far seems to be fairly random. There are people from Day 7 who are already in – though there are apparently more from Day 1 than from any other day.
I read the House histories too. :) So did you see which famous Wizard was in Slytherin? (I think it’s too big a spoiler to mention at this point without spoiler tags, but still…)
Yes, I saw which wizard. Interesting.
OwlSun126
That single detail makes me very interested in Slytherin.
Can someone please help me! I’ve been trying to find the “measurements” object in “something peculiar is happening” for ages! Can someone give me a hint? Thanks :)
Answer from MerryLore on Chamber of Secrets:
Go to the lamp post on the right, towards the bottom where the hedges are, and put your mouse on it, and it will turn pink.
Yay, MerryLore! I posted your comment and linked back to your post on CoS. But it’s good to see you here! :)
Hi!
1. Can you move back and forth through the chapters?
You can move freely between chapters once you have ‘unlocked’ them. So for example to get to chapter 5 for the first time you need to have completed 1,2,3,4 first, but once you have done that you can read 5, go back to 3, then 1, then 4, then 2 etc.
2. Do you get your wand and go through sorting first? Or do you have to wait for the Diagon Alley and Sorting Hat chapters before you can get your wand and get sorted?
We follow the story as Harry does, that is, we get our wand in chapter 5 and get sorted in Chapter 7.
3. What does it look like inside? Can you contact other members? Can you see other members?
The artwork is beautiful. They are careful not to show any faces so everyone still uses their imagination for the characters which I really like.
The only contact options with friends is to send them a gift or duel them. We can’t send private chat messages between friends. There is however comment boards in each moment and about each character, place etc where users can post their opinions, feelings and reactions. There are also comment boards in the great hall and in the house common rooms. The comments are fairly short (imagine twitter) and they are moderated before posted, which seems to happen fairly quickly atm. Will be interesting to see how that goes once there are 1m+ users on the site.
Any other questions, just ask
:-)
ardnaxela!
could you tell me where you read d house histories? I’d reall like to read them too
I read them on the Pottermore thread on the Chamber of Secrets forum.
ETA:
The site administrator has since issued a warning that those who copy/paste material from the Pottermore website could be banned from the CoS forum. So it is unlikely that those House histories are currently available on the site.
>>That single detail makes me very interested in Slytherin.
Hmmm. I think I’m changing my aversion to Slytherin.
OwlSun126
Now I have to resist reading the backstory on McGonagall AND finding out about that wizard! Can’t wait!! :)
How did you like the McGonnagall backstory? (I haven’t read it yet… gonna wait to see it on Pottermore).
I know this isn’t directed at me or anything but McGonagall’s backstory is wonderful. I loved her before but she is without a doubt my favorite character in the series now. Strong woman she is <3
I absolutely loved the McGonnagall backstory! She is an amazing character. :)
Your webpage does not render correctly on my iphone – you might want to try and fix that
The website uses a mobile theme on iPad and iPhone. But you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Full Site.” Then you should see the site the way it’s seen on the Web.
Both versions (mobile and Full Site) look just fine in my iPhone. So if there’s a rendering problem after you’ve clicked on Full Site, then it’s probably some setting in your phone that’s causing the problem.
AFTER READING ALL THESE WONDERFUL COMMENTS, I FEEL LIKE I’LL NEVER GET IN. I MUST CHECK AT LEAST 100 TIMES A DAY FOR ANY MAIL FROM POTTERMORE. DO THEY JUST SEND THE WELCOME LETTERS OUT ONLY ONCE A DAY AT THE SAME TIME? IF ANY ONE KNOWS PLEASE REPLY TO MY POST THANKS.
When Pottermore first started sending out emails, they said that they had sent out the batch at a specific time.
Since last week, they’ve been saying that they are sending out emails from a specific time. This sounds as if they’re sending out multiple batches. But nobody knows for sure.
What we do know is that the numbers are increasing. Over 125,000 are now in the Great Hall. And that’s not counting those who haven’t gotten to the Great Hall yet. We don’t know exactly how many are inside the site.
What day did you register? Most of the people inside right now are from Day 1 and Day 2.