Potter more…or Less?

Now, before anyone raises their wand against me, I promise my title does not mean that I dislike Pottermore and wish to see less of it; I am simply a fan of really terrible puns and plays-on-words and was dead set on using the title. Truthfully, I love Pottermore, and have since I first joined back when it mass-released after its Beta phase.

I love each of its incarnations equally and for different reasons. The story mode, where it walked you through key moments in all seven books, was absolutely lovely and gave the story so much more depth (which is REALLY saying something). I loved the added bits of writing Rowling provided, giving readers background on things in the Potterverse. Each piece was a delicious treat and I eagerly awaited each.

I’ll admit I never really got the hang of the Potions Class or Dueling Club, so I was a terrible contributor to my House (Hufflepuff at the time – a real brain bender to me, a staunch Ravenclaw). After the final House Cup, the story mode was removed and, after brief hiatus, the current Pottermore incarnation came into being. While it contains the same writings, with more and more added semi-regularly, everything is more easily accessible. And I was sorted into my true house – GO RAVENCLAW!

(screenshot of older Pottermore.com homepage)

Now, as you might have guessed, I did not choose this topic just so I could tell you about how much I love Pottermore. Every time Pottermore or even Jo herself releases something new about the Potterverse, social media explodes with a number of reactions. These reactions are often polarized; either filled with excitement (wherein people like me squeal, jump up and down, call all of their friends, or a combination of all three) or filled with a surprising amount of ire, claiming Jo should have stopped at the last book and that each release of information is a last-ditch and pitiful attempt to keep Harry Potter relevant. It’s this last reaction that has me concerned.

First, I want to say that I am the very last person to tell anyone how they should feel about anything, so please do not feel as though that is my end game. Each and every person is entitled to their opinion and I will respect everyone’s rights and opinions until the day I die. To that end, I am here to express my confusion at how many people are unhappy about learning more things about a series we all profess to love so much.

I swear, if Jo were to come up to me and tell me she would barrage my brain daily with new tidbits of information I would set aside hours of my time every day to be devoted exclusively to that until the day I died. I would be ecstatic. While that’s not likely to be the case (Jo, seriously call me if you ever want to tell me everything you ever thought up for the Wizarding World) I would and will gladly welcome anything new released on Pottermore. There is just something blissful about knowing and getting to know everything about a world that has so entranced me since I was 8 years old. To prove my point, when the three Hogwarts eBooks came out, I ended up in the emergency room for tearing my ACL – those ebooks got me through sitting in the waiting room for almost four hours – I almost forgot where I was and for what reason.

In fact there are often times that I think of something and wish I could just sit down with Jo and ask her all the questions I can – I’ll just settle for asking on Twitter and hoping she sees my tweets amongst the millions of others.

I can (somewhat) understand not wanting to read all of the new tidbits of information. They can be many and long and sometimes contradict things we have built in our minds. What confuses me is the idea that because someone doesn’t want read it then Jo shouldn’t release the information at all. Just don’t read it. It’s pretty simple and this way everyone can be happy!

Again, I promise I really am not trying to antagonize anyone that feels differently than myself; life would be boring as hell if we all had the same opinion. I’m more curious really.

Anyone who feels differently than me, please explain. I’m truly curious and interested in your opinions.