I recently received a letter from Christopher Little, J.K. Rowling's agent. In it, Mr. Little made a few subtle threats concerning the site's use of the trademarked phrase "The Daily Prophet." Don't worry, the site is not at danger, but the whole event for me was rather annoying to say the least. Throughout PotterWar I had hoped the greed only went as deep as Warner Brothers. It appears I was wrong. Mr. Little claimed that J.K. Rowling didn't approve of her books being used for "didactic educational purposes." It really bothers me that the Harry Potter books have changed from a way to get children excited about reading and learning, and they're now just a money-making machine.
The letter was a bit of a blow to my Harry Potter Fever. I've lost my passion for it. As I'm sure you've noticed, updates haven't been as frequent lately. This has been partly due to ill health, but also because I've kind of lost hope in it. But, I don't want the Daily Prophet to die just because I'm not happy with the way the franchise is being operated. I still believe the Daily Prophet does a world of good, but I want it to do more. I don't want it to become a victim of the greed of those running the Potter franchise. I want it to be entirely impervious to threat.

While thinking about this problem a thought came to me. Why focus just on Harry Potter anymore? Yes, it has provided a structure and a foundation, but there's so much more to the world. I've developed a plan and I'd like to know what all of you think.

When you go to the new DProphet.com, you will be met with a portal. It will look exactly the same as it does now; same design, same colors, same name. But the links will be different. And the headlines will change. Instead you will see three new phrases, three new links on the left menu: Hogwarts, Middle Earth, and Battle School.
The main site will house headlines from three separate sections of the site, each one dedicated to a different book series. Hogwarts, the first on the list, will of course be about Harry Potter. That section will remain the same as the Daily Prophet now, it will be all about the fantastic world of Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and the Ministry of Magic. All will remain the same, it will just have two new sister sections.
Those are Middle Earth and Battle School. Middle Earth, of course, is dedicated to the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. Although I have not read the books I have fallen in love with the film and I believe that the passion behind those books will help lift the Daily Prophet to new heights.
Battle School, the third section, will focus on some of my favorite books of all time, the Ender Series by Orson Scott Card.

Basically this new form of the Daily Prophet will be the DP times three. Three new sections, three new focuses, and three fan bases to carry the site, each dedicated and complete.

How will all of this happen? It will take a load of work, but I think it will be worth it. The structure will be changed a bit. I will act as the site's Main Editor, supervising all three sections. Each section will have its own Section Editor, sort of like a Vice President. They will look over their own section staff; a group of columnists much like the one you all participate in. Think of it as three Daily Prophets, that's the best way to put it.
I'm considering becoming the Section Editor for the Battle School section, leaving the Harry Potter department to someone else. It will be a challenge to find Section Editors for Hogwarts and Lord of the Rings, but I simply can't run all of them on my own. It will take loads of updating, loads of work, and simply hundreds of columnists to manage. But think of the effect we could have!

Apart from just focusing on tutelage in the fields of English and Creative Writing, I want each section to focus on separate fields of knowledge in addition to literature. Each book series will be the gateway to other subjects. The Harry Potter section will focus on Mythological History of the Eastern World and its effects on ancient and modern society. Focusing mostly on Ancient Roman, Greek, and Egyptian myths, this will provide a basis for the following sections.
Middle Earth will focus on the studies of Linguistics and the mythology of the ancient western world: the Europeans, North American Indians, and South Americans.
And finally, Battle School will focus on Strategy, Analytical Thinking, Political Science, and Modern Mythology. The structure of each section shall remain as a faux newspaper, but with a more determined focus. We can still have the fun articles, but there will be special sections for each focus. Assignments may be made to willing columnists when research may be required, but that will be up to the Section Editors whomever they may be.

I don't want to use books for just the purposes of learning how to read and write anymore. All three of these series have so much more to offer the human mind than just how we can improve the structure of our sentences or the boldness of our style. We need to continue to expand the Daily Prophet, helping it to mature, or we will fall victim to the threats made by those in the Harry Potter franchise. If we can take the focus away from being just a Harry Potter fan site, we'll be less at risk.

I wanted to explain this plan for several reasons. First off, because it will involve all of you. You have a decision to make. I know several of you are fans of Tolkien's books, and I hope some of you are familiar with Orson Scott Card. If you are interested, would you be willing to become the first columnists for the Middle Earth or Battle School sections? Everyone is more than welcome to stay in the Harry Potter section, I will still need columnists there. But if you any of you wish to join in the other departments, please let me know.
If you decide to stay with Harry Potter, nothing will really change. You'll write articles as you always have, you may just have to send them to someone else for publication. That will be worked out later.

I also want to know your thoughts on the project. Do you think visitors will find it interesting? Do you believe this will help to further the purposes of the Daily Prophet? Also, are you or do you know anyone who would be willing to help with the additional educational focuses of the site (i.e. mythological history, political science, etc)? I can use all the help I can get. This project will take a while to set up, and it will take more hard work and dedication. But the impact we could have would be unprecedented. By combining three great series think of the fan base our site could generate. Think of the thousands of people who would read your work. Think of the impact your contribution would have.

I'm asking for your help and cooperation. The Daily Prophet has done wonderful things for people around the world - let's see what we can do next.

Since my email inbox has a tendency to become overcrowded very easily, I've created a guestbook type system for you to go to and post your opinions about the project. The address is: http://pub.alxnet.com/guestbook?id=2385445
Please go there to tell me what you think, to volunteer to become a part of other sections, etc. I'll check the guestbook regularly, making lists of who would like to be transferred, and I'll make notes on all suggestions. Then, if I need to reply to a comment individually I will do so, but in most cases I'll send out further announcements here if changes are made to the plan.

Thanks for all of your wonderful help and dedication. Your articles are greatly appreciated and I couldn't do any of this without your support.

Sincerely,
Meg McGonagall