Ideas for Harry Potter Community
This is mostly for goddess_of_ice and rain_memory, but prospective members are welcome to join in the discussion and add any suggestions they might have.
So here are some of the ideas I came up with as an outline (I know, sounds more like a Master Plan) for the Harry Potter rereading community. Don't take any of these ideas as ultimatums; they're all just suggestions for ways to make this community one of the best and the most innovative among all the HP communities out there :) And in the meantime, I'm going to try to make this as unboring as possible for you.
What is a name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
Okay, we get it, Romeo. But ever heard of the phrase, "Give an awesome name and the birds will flock to you"? Me neither, but it's still true.
Names
*The Mirror of Sthurt: Remember the fated Mirror of Erised from Book 1? Well, this name plays off the same idea; except instead of seeing "Desire," the members of our community will be seeking "Truths." This works with any other abstract concept, truth was just the first one that came to mind. One of my personal faves.
*The Niffler Mines: Nifflers are creatures that mine for precious metals, as Hagrid mentioned during Care of Magical Creatures. Well, aren't we looking for something precious in these books as well? Definitely a name conducive to awesome slogans, like "Where the Hunt for the Legendary (Adventure/Rare etc.) Begins" or "Where You Enter the World of the Unbelievable." And there could be a themed layout to boot! (But that applies to all of these)
*The Philosopher's Club: A fitting title to describe our community, and a reference to the book that started it all (The Philosopher's Stone); also, Nicholas Flamel's Philosopher Club
*Tom Riddle's Diary: Kind of a cool name--not a name that conains any real significance, but neither does Leaky Cauldron's website name, right? And okay, he's kind of evil, but that kind of adds to the effect, I think...
*The Order of the Phoenix: Not the most original idea, but it does create a sense of community, which is what we're aiming for. And plus, it sounds pretty nifty as a coalition title! My logic behind this one is that a lot of the well-known Harry Potter sites use titles directly from the books, so why shouldn't we, if it works? The "phoenix" could be changed to something else as well.
*The Sphinx's Lair: Fourth book Triwizard Tournament Task Three reference. And a cool slogan to go with it--"Riddle me this" :)
*Veela's Veil: A mix of references, mostly having to do with the fact that we're all (young, beautiful!) girls in this community, with the veil representing 1) hidden beauty behind the veil (mystery), and 2) the veil from Book 5.
*The Hogwarts Express: A one-way ticket into the magical world of witchcraft and wizardry.
*Phoenix Tales: A play on the words "phoenix tails," which make up the core of Harry and Volemort's wands.
That's all I have on me right now. ^^ I'm sure that if I had the books, I think I would have gone a lot crazier. What do you guys think?
Rereading Discussion Community/Forums
If we could find a way to get a counter to update automatically at the end of each day which chapter number we're on (kind of like the technology that updates calendars, which we would reset after the end of the book), that would be a cool way to head the page. It could link to seven different forums--one for each book, with different topic discussions etc. I don't think LJ is too high-tech in terms of making fancy stuff (and we could start out with the normal layout and edit as it goes along), but yes :) Imagination runs wild, yet again.
We could also allow some down time in between the books so that people have time to catch up and join in if they feel like it (we could make this exactly a seven-month challenge, for example, although I'm not sure if that comes out to one-chapter-a-day or more or less). And then we could do it again! I know I'm making a big thing out of nothing, but I think it's a good idea to base a community on, so tell me if I'm being smothering. ^^ You guys don't have to do it, either; just suggestions to spice things up!
Layout
A title-based theme and layout would be kind of cool, and there are certainly plenty that would go along with any title that we might come up with. I know this is more website material, but if I could do html, there would so many sparkle and magic effects, as well as cool music and sounds, when anybody clicks on a link...^^" That being said...
Website
It's a very premature idea, but I was thinking of all of these ideas that are forming up inside my head, and I wanted to ask--how much time do you guys want to put into maintaining our community? Mind you, of course I don't know how this community is going to fly :) But I have always, always wanted to create some sort of fandom website, and I guess this idea for making a community sort of put that into action. That being said, it would be (er, if I could find somebody willing to maintaining the techy part) a sister site stemming from the community. I don't think it would ever turn into anything big, but if you guys are okay with it, I might try to start something up similar to the community, but extending beyond LJ. ^^ It might have a membership of zero, but it would be something that is so much fun! Are you guys interested? I would just be doing it for the kicks and so I can learn code (I've always wanted to do that as well!), and it would be great if you guys felt like joining in for the project. Yay!
Title/Theme: ?
Deathly Hallows: The three hallows, each representing a different subject (films, books, and fandom)
Nicholas Flamel's Library: A list of book recommendations, both Harry Potter-esque (or directly related) and otherwise; would include a book-of-the-week sort of thing
Hogwarts, A History: Everything you ever wanted to know about the most infamous wizarding school in magical history, and more.
Escape from Azkaban/Dementor's Kiss: All about the Dark Arts and its Dark Wizards.
Godric's Hollow: The history that came before the Boy Who Lived.
The Quibbler: The latest news from the world of Harry Potter.
The Granger Reread Challenge: Based on the idea for our LJ community, a reread-series challenge/discussion spot.
Rita Skeeter's Scoop: A chatroom community where members can interact and discuss the latest Harry Potter gossip.
The Golden Aerial/The Fireplace: Links to other noteworthy Harry Potter sites.
Also: Contests/Challenges, Fanfiction, Book Summaries/Insight, Interesting Facts, Promotional Page
Okay, so I bet you guys are tired of hearing me ramble on and on :) So those are my ideas for the community, and if you guys have any suggestions and whatnot...XD We should discuss!
And guess what movie just came on on TV? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! *wow* I was just craving my dose of Cedric Diggory... :)
In the meantime, check out our community, rereading_hp !