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The Leaky Cauldron (website)
Encyclopedia
The Leaky Cauldron, also called Leaky, TLC, or Leaky News, is a Harry Potter
fansite
and blog
. The site features news, image and video galleries, downloadable widgets, a chat room
and discussion forum
, and an essay project called Scribbulus, among other offerings. Since 2005, The Leaky Cauldron has also hosted an official podcast
called PotterCast
.
The current webmaster
of The Leaky Cauldron is Melissa Anelli
, a former journalist for the Staten Island Advance
and author of the 2008 bestseller Harry, A History
. The site's creative director is John Noe. The Leaky Internet business is currently incorporated
as the for-profit Leaky Net Inc. (to be distinguished from the non-profit arm, Leaky, Inc.)
site managed through Blogger
. It moved to its own domain on December 4, 2000. B.K. DeLong took control of the site in 2001. Melissa Anelli joined the Leaky staff later that year as an editor and became Managing Editor in 2002. Anelli took full editorial control of the site in 2004. On January 28, 2005, Leaky debuted the Leaky Lounge, a forum for Harry Potter discussion. The forum currently has over 53,000 registered members.
jokes that it pulls annually. In 2003, Leaky posted a copy of 93 words allegedly e-mailed to the site, in reference to a 93-word card auctioned off the previous December with information about the plot of the upcoming fifth Potter book. In 2004, actor Jim Tavaré
, who would appear later that year in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Tom the Barman, attempted to oust the "muggles" from the site. In 2005, the site closed down, posting a note about how tired the Webmasters were of handling the foolish questions sent to them by readers each day. As a replacement, the site opened "Ask Peeves," a spoof of the Ask Jeeves search engine. In 2006, both The Leaky Cauldron and fellow Potter fansite MuggleNet
shut down and redirected visitors to a new site, The Leaky Mug. The Leaky Mug's first announcement was the marriage of Leaky webmaster Melissa Anelli to MuggleNet webmaster Emerson Spartz
. The two claimed to have merged their sites in the same way they had merged their lives. The next day, both sites were running normally; J. K. Rowling
discussed the joke later on her official website. In 2007, Leaky posted a news item that it be closing its doors following the upcoming publication of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In 2008, The Leaky Cauldron announced that Sybill Trelawney, a Hogwarts
professor of divination
in the Potter series, would be joining the site's staff as a news editor. Leaky also announced that Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe
would be eschewing his famous nude scenes in the upcoming Broadway debut of his play Equus
; and that the wizard rock
band Harry and the Potters
was disbanding. In 2009, the site automatically redirected to another website, Hooter, a play-on Twitter
. In 2010, The Leaky Cauldron became "The Gleeky Cauldron", a fansite for the popular Fox TV show Glee
.
has praised The Leaky Cauldron on several occasions. On her site, Rowling has said that she visits The Leaky Cauldron and sometimes reads the comments left by visitors, although Rowling does not leave comments there herself; she once wished a reader happy birthday based upon their postings on The Leaky Cauldron. Rowling gave her approval and endorsement to the strong anti-spoiler campaign enforced on Leaky and its forum, the "Leaky Lounge," prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet
were granted an interview with Rowling at her home in Edinburgh, Scotland in mid-2005, immediately following the release of the sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
. In January 2008, Rowling appeared and was interviewed on PotterCast; during the interview, she called Leaky "[her] favorite fan site." Rowling has written the introduction to Melissa Anelli's nonfiction book Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon, which was released November 4, 2008.
The site also has a good relationship with Warner Bros.
, the studio producing the film adaptations of the Potter books. The studio regularly sent Leaky images from upcoming films before their official release, and gave Leaky a special preview of redesigns of the official Harry Potter website before the releases of the third and fourth films. Leaky was the sole fansite invited to the press junket for the second Potter film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
; the junkets for later films were opened to additional sites. The website has also received information from other sources in the Harry Potter world, including Arthur A. Levine Books
and Bloomsbury Publishing.
The Leaky Cauldron also participated in the fundraiser "Helping Haiti Heal," which was organized by the Harry Potter Alliance. This fundraiser had the goal of raising money for Haiti after the earthquake that struck in January 2010. In the end, Helping Haiti Heal raised $123,000. This money was used to charter five planes to Haiti, nicknamed "Harry," "Hermione," "Ron," "DFTBA" and "Dumbledore" and carried up to 100,000 pounds of critical, life-saving supplies for thousands of Haitians.
and The HP Alliance. Leaky hosted a second LeakyCon in July 2011 in Orlando, Florida
(in close proximity to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park). Proceeds benefited Book Aid International and The HP Alliance. In 2012, there will be another LeakyCon, taking place in Chicago, Illinois from August 9th to the 12th.
Search Find of the Year People's Choice Award, a 2002 Bloggie
award, a Movies.com
Fan Favorite Awards in 2004 and 2005, a Fan Site Award from J. K. Rowling
and a 2006 Webby
People's Voice Award.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
fansite
Fansite
A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
. The site features news, image and video galleries, downloadable widgets, a chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
and discussion forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, and an essay project called Scribbulus, among other offerings. Since 2005, The Leaky Cauldron has also hosted an official podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
called PotterCast
PotterCast
PotterCast is the official podcast of the Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron. Its episodes are posted once per month and are typically about an hour long. In every episode, the hosts discuss particular passages, themes, and questions from the Harry Potter books and films, and they go over the...
.
The current webmaster
Webmaster
A webmaster , also called a web architect, web developer, site author, or website administrator is a person responsible for maintaining one or many websites...
of The Leaky Cauldron is Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli is an American author. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Harry, A History, which chronicles the Harry Potter phenomenon with exclusive interview material and a foreword written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling...
, a former journalist for the Staten Island Advance
Staten Island Advance
The Staten Island Advance is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only borough to have its own major daily paper, it covers news of local and community interest, including borough politics. As of...
and author of the 2008 bestseller Harry, A History
Harry, A History
Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon is a 2008 book by writer and webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron, Melissa Anelli. The book describes the Harry Potter phenomenon in detail. The book was published on November 4, 2008, by Pocket...
. The site's creative director is John Noe. The Leaky Internet business is currently incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
as the for-profit Leaky Net Inc. (to be distinguished from the non-profit arm, Leaky, Inc.)
History
The Leaky Cauldron website was started by Kevin C. Murphy on July 5, 2000, as a GeocitiesGeoCities
Yahoo! GeoCities is a web hosting service, currently available only in Japan.GeoCities was originally founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet . In its original form, site users selected a "city" in which to place their web pages...
site managed through Blogger
Blogger (service)
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish...
. It moved to its own domain on December 4, 2000. B.K. DeLong took control of the site in 2001. Melissa Anelli joined the Leaky staff later that year as an editor and became Managing Editor in 2002. Anelli took full editorial control of the site in 2004. On January 28, 2005, Leaky debuted the Leaky Lounge, a forum for Harry Potter discussion. The forum currently has over 53,000 registered members.
April Fools' Day jokes
The site is also known for the April Fools' DayApril Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
jokes that it pulls annually. In 2003, Leaky posted a copy of 93 words allegedly e-mailed to the site, in reference to a 93-word card auctioned off the previous December with information about the plot of the upcoming fifth Potter book. In 2004, actor Jim Tavaré
Jim Tavare
Jim Tavaré is an English stand-up comedian, actor and musician. He is best known for his work on The Sketch Show on ITV which won a BAFTA award and also plays the role of Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.-Life and career:Tavaré was born in Essex,...
, who would appear later that year in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won the 1999 Whitbread Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and was short-listed for other...
as Tom the Barman, attempted to oust the "muggles" from the site. In 2005, the site closed down, posting a note about how tired the Webmasters were of handling the foolish questions sent to them by readers each day. As a replacement, the site opened "Ask Peeves," a spoof of the Ask Jeeves search engine. In 2006, both The Leaky Cauldron and fellow Potter fansite MuggleNet
MuggleNet
MuggleNet is a Harry Potter fansite founded by Emerson Spartz. The site is composed of news, editorials and synopses of the Harry Potter books and films, an encyclopedia of the books, an IRC network, in which the fans of Harry Potter can discuss predictions and share thoughts, a discussion forum,...
shut down and redirected visitors to a new site, The Leaky Mug. The Leaky Mug's first announcement was the marriage of Leaky webmaster Melissa Anelli to MuggleNet webmaster Emerson Spartz
Emerson Spartz
Emerson Spartz is the founder of the #1 Harry Potter fansite, Mugglenet.com, and currently serves as CEO of Chicago-based Spartz Media...
. The two claimed to have merged their sites in the same way they had merged their lives. The next day, both sites were running normally; J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
discussed the joke later on her official website. In 2007, Leaky posted a news item that it be closing its doors following the upcoming publication of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In 2008, The Leaky Cauldron announced that Sybill Trelawney, a Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
professor of divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
in the Potter series, would be joining the site's staff as a news editor. Leaky also announced that Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series....
would be eschewing his famous nude scenes in the upcoming Broadway debut of his play Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
; and that the wizard rock
Wizard rock
Wizard rock is a genre of rock music that developed between 2002 and 2004 in the United States. Wizard rock bands are characterized by their performances and humorous songs about the Harry Potter universe. Wizard rock initially started in Massachusetts with Harry and the Potters, though it has...
band Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters are an American alternative rock band known for spawning the genre of wizard rock. Founded in Norwood, Massachusetts, the group is primarily composed of Joe and Paul DeGeorge, who both perform under the persona of the title character from the Harry Potter book series...
was disbanding. In 2009, the site automatically redirected to another website, Hooter, a play-on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. In 2010, The Leaky Cauldron became "The Gleeky Cauldron", a fansite for the popular Fox TV show Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
.
LeakyNews.com
Leaky purchased Leakynews.com on Nov. 20, 2005 (GoDaddy.com Whois) to make their URL shorter. In Fall 2011, after the end of the Harry Potter movie franchise, it was converted to a Fan Site for more general topics, mainly Television shows. Users are now able to contribute content, and it may be published to the site.PotterCast
PotterCast is the official podcast of The Leaky Cauldron. Launched on August 22, 2005, PotterCast is an hour-long podcast hosted by Anelli, Noe, and Frankie "Frak" Franco III. The podcast includes news updates, discussion of the Potter books and films, interviews with people associated with the Potter franchise (including J. K. Rowling) and other features.Relationship with J. K. Rowling/Warner Bros.
Harry Potter creator J. K. RowlingJ. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
has praised The Leaky Cauldron on several occasions. On her site, Rowling has said that she visits The Leaky Cauldron and sometimes reads the comments left by visitors, although Rowling does not leave comments there herself; she once wished a reader happy birthday based upon their postings on The Leaky Cauldron. Rowling gave her approval and endorsement to the strong anti-spoiler campaign enforced on Leaky and its forum, the "Leaky Lounge," prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet
MuggleNet
MuggleNet is a Harry Potter fansite founded by Emerson Spartz. The site is composed of news, editorials and synopses of the Harry Potter books and films, an encyclopedia of the books, an IRC network, in which the fans of Harry Potter can discuss predictions and share thoughts, a discussion forum,...
were granted an interview with Rowling at her home in Edinburgh, Scotland in mid-2005, immediately following the release of the sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...
. In January 2008, Rowling appeared and was interviewed on PotterCast; during the interview, she called Leaky "[her] favorite fan site." Rowling has written the introduction to Melissa Anelli's nonfiction book Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon, which was released November 4, 2008.
The site also has a good relationship with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, the studio producing the film adaptations of the Potter books. The studio regularly sent Leaky images from upcoming films before their official release, and gave Leaky a special preview of redesigns of the official Harry Potter website before the releases of the third and fourth films. Leaky was the sole fansite invited to the press junket for the second Potter film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the second instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman...
; the junkets for later films were opened to additional sites. The website has also received information from other sources in the Harry Potter world, including Arthur A. Levine Books
Arthur A. Levine Books
Arthur A. Levine Books is an imprint of Scholastic Corporation which specializes in fiction and non-fiction books for young readers. The imprint was founded in 1996 by Arthur Levine in New York City. The first book published by Arthur A. Levine Books was "When She Was Good" by Norma Fox Mazer in...
and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Charitable initiatives
The Leaky Cauldron regularly raises funds to aid world literacy, an initiative begun in 2002 with the auction of a card, handwritten by Rowling, with 93 words regarding the plot of the upcoming fifth Harry Potter book. Leaky gathered funds from its readers to place a collective bid, but when their bid was unsuccessful, the money raised was donated to the charity benefiting from the auction. Leaky now holds a charity drive every holiday season and has raised more than $30,000 in donations to date.The Leaky Cauldron also participated in the fundraiser "Helping Haiti Heal," which was organized by the Harry Potter Alliance. This fundraiser had the goal of raising money for Haiti after the earthquake that struck in January 2010. In the end, Helping Haiti Heal raised $123,000. This money was used to charter five planes to Haiti, nicknamed "Harry," "Hermione," "Ron," "DFTBA" and "Dumbledore" and carried up to 100,000 pounds of critical, life-saving supplies for thousands of Haitians.
LeakyCon
In May 2009, Leaky hosted LeakyCon 2009, a Harry Potter fan convention held in Boston, Massachusetts, the proceeds of which went to Book Aid InternationalBook Aid International
Book Aid International is an NGO that exists to encourage literacy and access to books particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East by distributing books to libraries and other locations that increase community access. Book Aid International currently work in 12 countries in sub-Shahran...
and The HP Alliance. Leaky hosted a second LeakyCon in July 2011 in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
(in close proximity to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park). Proceeds benefited Book Aid International and The HP Alliance. In 2012, there will be another LeakyCon, taking place in Chicago, Illinois from August 9th to the 12th.
Awards
Awards received by the site include the 2005 Yahoo!Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Search Find of the Year People's Choice Award, a 2002 Bloggie
The Weblog Awards (Bloggies)
The Weblog Awards, nicknamed the Bloggies, are annual non-profit blog awards that have been presented since 2001. They are the longest running and one of the largest blog awards, with winners determined through internet voting by the public...
award, a Movies.com
Movies.com
Movies.com is a website in the Fandango family, operated by Comcast. It was acquired from Disney in June 2008. It is the second-most visited movie-related website, second only to IMDb. The website has information about movies, upcoming movies, and theater information...
Fan Favorite Awards in 2004 and 2005, a Fan Site Award from J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
and a 2006 Webby
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
People's Voice Award.