Pottermore Website Crashes After Rowling’s New Potter Story Posted
Earlier this week, JK Rowling gave her fans something they’ve wanted for years: an update on Harry and the gang. As we’ve previously reported, this 1500-word clip came to us in the form of a news article written by Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter as members of Dumbledore’s Army reunite for the Quidditch World Cup.
It’s the first time Rowling has written anything new about Harry and the gang since Deathly Hallows was published in 2007.
Rowlings fans may have been too excited, however, as the massive flood of users logging onto Pottermore (perhaps for the first time in months) crashed the site and kept it down most of the morning. As the new content was hidden under a login, those wanting to read Rowling’s new writing needed a Pottermore username. The site seemed unable to handle the amount of requests for username retrievals and password resets, delaying emails to users all day.
#ThatMomentWhen you sign up for Pottermore as an adult because you HAVE to read the update on Harry Potter at the 2014 Quidditch World Cup.
— Women’s Humor (@WomensHumor) July 9, 2014
Pottermore users can recall the huge problems the Potter site had backed when it first launched in 2011; first being delayed and then proving to be very buggy. Over time, fans stopped using the site, even though more and more content was created in a desperate attempt to recapture the dwindling fan-base.
Now, JK Rowling herself is using fresh Potter content to draw users back to the site. And once again, the site was unable to handle what it desired – loads of traffic.
Rowling’s new piece on Pottermore, posted July 8th, was not a coincidence and was not written just to draw in users to the site. It also coincided with the grand opening of Diagon Alley, the wizarding world expansion in Universal Studios Orlando.
No doubt the new piece of writing was partly shared as a way to promote the theme park expansion. It’s also riding on the coattails of the World Cup, which is the biggest trend on the internet right now, drawing users (and frankly, customers) back to the Harry Potter experience.
Does this new writing from Rowling mean she’s ready to return to these characters? In addition, are we destined to see an adult Harry Potter on the screen again? Daniel Radcliffe, who became a household name after starting his acting career fifteen years ago portraying the young wizard, says it’s not likely. “Harry’s 12 years older than I am right now. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that for a long time, I’m hoping,” Daniel says.
Regardless of what this means for more new Potter content, fans are simply happy that Rowling returned to the wizarding world to give us a glimpse, however brief it may have been.
[Images via Pottermore]
