Pottermore
I may be late on finding out about this, but I am still posting an entry on it. I was watching the CBS news this afternoon, when they ran a very particular news posts called Harry Potter lives on through fan fiction.
One thing this does for the fanfiction community is to paint it in a positive light, typically when people have talked about fanfiction on the national news, it comes out as a small subject which tends to only attract those who already know about writing fanfiction. You either get the fans of writing fanfiction, who pander the good about it, or you get the people who look down upon fanfiction writing, one of the main arguments being that the people are stealing from J.K. Rowling. This however, is something that hits a major group.
The other thing it does for the fanfiction community is to give those wishing to write fanfiction for a particular book series a place to write fanfiction that is supported by the author. Other author's may have done this in the past, however... they are not known to me and this one is in fact a big case. If one goes to Pottermore, one can see that Rowling waited to launch the site and th video until the entire series was out in both book and movie format. It will officially open up in October, but a select few people will be able to Beta the site early on and details will be released on July 31st.
One of the positive things I see about this site is the advocacy for child safety online. Just to pull a few quotes from what little there is on the site, I found myself quite impressed with said quotes.
Registration Page: If you are under 18 years of age, by ticking this box you confirm you have obtained permission from your parent or guardian to accept these terms to register and use this site.
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TOC: 3.1: We make Pottermore available for users of all ages. However, users under 13, should submit their parent or guardian's email address and obtain their parent or guardian’s prior consent before doing so.
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TOC: 4.1: The safety and privacy of all users under the age of 18 ("Minors") is important to us. If you are a parent or guardian, please read these Terms carefully together with our Privacy Policy.
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TOC: 4.2: If you are a Minor under 13 years of age, you must check with a parent or guardian before you submit their email address to ensure that they give you permission to use Pottermore and you should review these Terms with them to make sure that you and your parent or guardian understand them.
One of the big concerns I've had about fanfiction writing of late has been the constant influx of writers who happen to post not really understanding the way the net works, even without parental permision. They don't pay attention to the way the site works. Pottermore asks that the parents actually take a bigger role in the fanfiction community, even if it is only a small step. I have yet to see how critique will work on this site, however... I do know that anything posted on Pottermore will not be allowed to be posted elsewhere. I don't know if script format will be allowed, or how they will handle song lyrics, or even crossovers. Personally, I don't think crossovers should be on the site, because unlike HPff, it is a copyright owned site, despite seeming to be free to use.