Please Stop Multiaccounting

This is a quick reminder that we do not allow multi-accounting on this site per our site rules and terms of service. This is something we notify users of in our welcoming owl, terms of service page and site rules. Multi-accounting can lead to a site ban.

We do allow users that have friends, housemates, and family members to join as long as they are actual people joining and not someone they made up or are pretending to be. We have many ways of verifying this, from checking IPs, verifying email addresses, seeing when and how you log in and out, and identifying what devices are being used to access the site. People do occasionally slip past us, lying in the process. We can forgive someone that does not know better making a mistake and trying to make right but we will 100% ban you if walk up to us and say "my brother is joining and they do not have any devices of their own so will be using my cellphone and computer. Oh, also they happen to use my email as well (or I gave them mine) because they do not have one. Yeah, crazy this day and age... but anyways, they wanna join. Oh and they are super generous so so not be surprised if they send me every galleon they earn. This is totally not suspicious at all and should be ignored." A lot of times when someone fesses up wer give them a second chance, but if I spent several hours disproving your lies, I will not be willing to advocate for your continued presence in the community.

I am going to save you a bit of effort here and say we might have been born at night, but not last night. We maintain suspicious user lists and do check in on some of the unlikely siblings, friends and flatmates. We have a deactivation system for those who simply lost engagement with their character. You are welcome to use the deactivation system, just remember there is 6 months until you are eligible to make a new character so make sure you make a character that you are happy with. We also expect you to be transparent when you deactivate. If you deactivate and claim you have no intention of returning and we see you back a few days later with a new account, it is creepy. Again, it is creepy to learn you deactivated and then slipped back onto the site unknown to your friends and acquaintances and started communicating with them or other members as if you are a totally new person. Stop being a creep and stop lying, you will be caught eventually.

I am tired of banning honest players' friends because these friends are dishonest, duplicitous and in some cases devious. Even if you do not care about being honest or fair, it is my hope that you abide by these expectations so that your friends can have a good experience.

Professor of Runes

We would like to welcome Jane Audley, our newest Professor of Runes played by Beatrice Dupont. Beatrice has been with us since Aug 2022 and has been a Slytherin Prefect since July of 2023 and Mentor co-lead since February 2024. During her tenure Beatrice has shown a powerful work ethic and a grace when managing difficult cases or when admitting mistakes. We are proud of the growth we have seen since she joined the team and we are elated to see what she brings to this next role.

Jane Audley will be replacing Amalia Rolfö, played by Avery McCall. Amalia has been in the Professor role since January of 2023 and Avery has been busy on the site since August of 2022. Avery works as a co-captain for two (do not ask me why) sport teams and has been a force in the community. Amalia will be missed as she departs from her role, please thank her for all of her hard work and her dedication to the community. It is our hope that she will have more time to invest in the fun side of the community.

This does mean that we are going to be opening up Slytherin Prefect applications until May 24. Please watch for applications which will be opening up shortly.

Slytherin Prefect Applications are now Closed

Thank you all who have applied for the role of Slytherin Prefect. Applications are now closed.

All applicants should have gotten a receipt for their application. if you have not gotten a receipt, please reach out ASAP.

New Snake Prefect

Congrats goes to Ruby Cazares, a Sixth year, Duellist and News Editor. They are very busy in this community and they are about to get busier! As a former Prefect, they do know what they are getting into but for some unknown reason they have tossed themselves back into the fire.

So welcome back Ruby, we are glad to have you.

Index Clearing

Index Clearing is starting today, this will be done house-by-house and this will show us not only a metric of active players but also be used for graduation in a few weeks. A quick clarification - logging into the community is not enough to be considered active, you will need to post on site. I did update the language in the graduation thread regarding Index for added clarity because some users believed logging in would count, it does not.

iNPC Updates are Now Open

iNPC updates are now open for the month of June (last day being June 30) in anticipation of Summer Camp. This is a period of time that allows players to apply for their one iNPC or update the iNPC that they have. As this is also graduation time, now is the time that you would be adding the new (graduated) stats to your iNPC.

To answer common questions we get: In short: Apps will remain open until June 30.

I wrote this last year and the year before because some people needed it and I suppose I am posting it again this year making it a tradition...

Gay pride or LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. This is a month of dignity, equal rights, self-affirmation and is a way of increasing society’s awareness of the issues they face.

June is celebrated as Pride in honor of the Stonewall Riots, an event that transpired after an NYPD raid of the Stonewall Inn June 28, 1969. The riots were prompted by this raid that tin Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The LGBT community held a series of spontaneous, often violent demonstrations to protest against the raid and calling for the establishment of places that gays and lesbians could go and be open about their sexual orientation. In such places there should be no fears of being arrested. The riots served as a catalyst for the rights of LGBT people, and within 6 months, 2 gay activist groups had formed in New York. This became a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, and argued by some to be the birth of the gay rights movement, in the United States and around the world. The world's first pride parade occurred on the 1st anniversary (28 June 1970). June is also the month same sex marriage was legalized in the United States. This is not an internationally recognized celebration, other nations celebrate pride during other months. LGBT History Month in the UK takes place in the month of February since 2005. Australia and Canada celebrate LGBT History in October since 1994.

However, this was not the beginning of the gay rights movement, which goes back to the early 1900s when a handful of individuals in North America and Europe created gay and lesbian organizations such as the Society for Human Rights, founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago in the 1920s. Following World War II, a small number of groups like the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis published gay- and lesbian-positive newsletters and grew more vocal in demanding recognition for, and protesting discrimination against, gays and lesbians. In 1966, for example, members of the Mattachine Society held a “sip-in” protest at Julius, a bar in New York City, where they demanded drinks after announcing that they were gay, in violation of local laws against serving alcohol to gays and lesbians.

Since the Stonewall riots there has been progress in terms of jargon, increased rights and public awareness. However there are parts of the world where the LGBTQ+ community is criminalized, resulting in imprisonment or even death. According to the Fund for Global Human Rights, 60 countries still have laws that effectively criminalize homosexuality. In 2022 there was 29 countries legally recognize marriage equality; 11 countries mention sexual orientation in constitutional nondiscrimination clauses. Advances in the LGBTQ+ community are more recent than many realize and they still face ongoing struggles relation to their sexual orientation and identity. 350 transgender people were killed in 2020, in a figure that has risen since the previous year’s total of 331.


Recent Developments:

• France was the first nation to decriminalize homosexuality in 1791. they legalized same sex marriage in 2013.
• The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee founded in Berlin was the first known LGBTQ+ organization.
• Civil society organizations have lobbied the United Nations for the recognition of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity since 1945.
• The American Psychiatric Association stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973.
• According to The Fund for Global Human Rights 83% of LGBTQ people hude their sexual orientation.
• Denmark is the first country to recognize same-sex civil unions in 1989.
• The World Health Organization stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness in 1990.
• Toonen v. Australia (1994) determined before the United Nations that the discrimination of individuals based on sexual orientation was a human rights violation.
• The Netherlands is the first country to legalize same sex marriage in 2000.
• In 2000 Europe extended protection under Article 21 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU
• In 2007 experts met in Indonesia and produced the Yogyakarta Principles which were expanded upon in 2017.
• In 1973 the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from their list of mental illnesses.
• In 2012 the American Psychological Association no longer defined being transgender as a mental illness but they still place the diagnosis of gender dysphoria on this population which described the mentional stress related to gender identity. Previous to this, transgender patients were diagnosed with gender identity disorder.
• In 2015 same sex marriage was legalized in the United States.
• In 2018 India’s Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality.
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that same-sex marriage and transgender rights constitute human rights in 2018, effectively mandating protections in twenty Latin American countries.
• Taiwan is the first East Asian country to legalize marriage equality.
• In 2012, the United Kingdom government launched a public same-sex marriage consultation, intending to change the laws applying to England and Wales. Its Marriage Bill was signed into law on 17 July 2013. The Scottish government launched a similar consultation, aiming to legalise same-sex marriage by 2015. On 4 February 2014, the Scottish Parliament passed a bill to legalise same-sex marriages in Scotland as well as ending the "spousal veto" that would allow spouses to deny transgender partners the ability to change their legal gender. Same-sex marriage was extended to Northern Ireland on 21 October 2019 and the law came into effect on 13 January 2020.
• In September 2014, a law went into effect in Denmark effectively dropping the former practice of requiring transgender persons to undergo arduous psychiatric evaluation and castration before being allowed legal gender change. By requiring nothing more than a statement of gender identity and subsequent confirmation of the request for gender change after a waiting period of 6 months, this means that anyone wishing their legal gender marker changed can do so with no expert-evaluation and few other formal restrictions.

The History of the Rainbow Pride Flag

The rainbow Pride flag, the most enduring symbol of the LGBTQ rights movement, was created by seamster Gilbert Baker nearly half a century ago for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, which drew hundreds of thousands of revelers.

“Up until the rainbow flag in 1978, the pink triangle had really functioned as kind of the symbol of homosexuality and gay rights, but it was designed by Hitler. It was put on us in the same way that they used the Star of David against Jews. It was a whole code of symbols that were used to oppress people,” Gilbert told a news resource in 2016.

Gilbert liked the idea of a flag because “flags are about power,” he said, adding: “I knew right away that the rainbow would be the perfect fit for us.”

“It expressed our diversity in terms of our gender, our race, our ages — all the ways we’re different, yet connected,” he said of the rainbow. “And then using something from nature, taking the rainbow, one of the most beautiful, magical, spiritual parts of nature and making that a symbol for our sexuality, for our human rights.”

In the widely known six-color flag, red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of healing, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. In the original eight-color flag, hot pink was included to represent sex and turquoise to represent magic/art. there have been many variations over the years, yet the rainbow flag has become an iconic symbol of this community.

So why the announcement? The dissemination of information. Have a good month.

Index Clearing Has Been Completed

Index clearing has been completed. This means that users that have not posted since Dec 1 2023 on site have been removed from Index. To verify if you are on Index, please look for your name in The Official Index Thread.

This Official Index is cleared twice a year, removing users that are no longer considered active (which means they have not posted on site for six months). If your character has been removed from this official index for any reason, you can reapply using this thread: Index Reapplication

Your character must be on this Official Index to participate in:

• Main Story which is not presently active.
• Sports (Duelling, Quidditch, Broom Racing)
• Seasonal Events (Fall Ball, Spring Ball, some summer camp activities) - summer camp is going to be starting shortly and the spring ball is ongoing.
• Graduation - you must be back in the official Index before July 1.
• Casting spells

There are five sections of the index. Four of those sections are dedicated to the current Hogwarts students: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The final section is for adult characters, meaning Hogwarts graduates and adult staff.

7th year students will be graduating a little earlier than the rest of the player base so that they have a chance to create their new first year student and possibly create an iNPC, so if you are a 7th year that have been removed from Index you will need to reapply back to Index before June 14th so that you can graduate on time.

And now by the numbers:

Gryffindor Year 1: 46 Year 2: 24 Year 3: 6 Year 4: 6 Year 5: 8 Year 6: 5 Year 7: 2 Total: 97	Slytherin Year 1: 61 Year 2: 15 Year 3: 9 Year 4: 3 Year 5: 10 Year 6: 6 Year 7: 4 Total: 108
Hufflepuff Year 1: 50 Year 2: 18 Year 3: 2 Year 4: 3 Year 5: 14 Year 6: 1 Year 7: 5 Total: 93	Ravenclaw Year 1: 61 Year 2: 11 Year 3: 6 Year 4: 4 Year 5: 11 Year 6: 1 Year 7: 4 Total: 98

New Staff Position Opening

This is a new temporary staff position that we are opening up that we are calling the Validations SubTeam. Validations is the process by which staff reviews new player accounts, ensures that they meet the basic admission criteria and allow the new player to join the site. This is because of the number of new accounts we have been seeing on a daily basis has been overwhelming the staff. To best accommodate the influx of new players with timely, factual interactions, we have decided to trial this new team.

This is a trial team. This team will be reassessed in a few weeks and again in a few months to determine if this role is a permanent role. If this role becomes permanent, the team will grow both in size and in responsibility.

Initial members of this team will serve as adjunct validators, having access to our validation modules. After the we trial this for about a month, we will be assessing the success of this team, if this team is successful we are going to also train this team in iNPC approvals and also expand this team's size. After another reassessment, we will be discussing a permanent status and how to give these new staff members full staff privileges including in character recognition of their staff roles.

We will be looking for 4 members for this trial.

If you are interested, please submit the following application to at least two heads of house (or to one HOH and to the Headmaster or Deputy Headmaster).

Current Student Name:
Names of Previous/Past Accounts:
How long have you been active on our site. your best guess if you don't remember specifics
Experience as staff on H.io.
Any sports player or moderator position held on H.io.
Past or previous experience as a mentor on H.io? If yes, when?
Past or previous experience as a member of the newspaper team?
Position Applying for:
Real Life Age:
Timezone:
Availability (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, variable):
Additional thoughts regarding what you could bring to this new team:

Applications will remain open until June 13.

All indexed users will be automatically graduated to the next year on or shortly after July 1. This is a manual process so this might take us a few days. So, this means that you will need to have your character Indexed by July 1 to graduate to the next year, otherwise they will be held back.

For players that wish to stay back a year, you do not need to be removed from Index (this is in fact a terrible idea), you just need to contact your Head of House - Marcus Iwasaki for Ravenclaw, Caradoc Browne for Hufflepuff, Galahad Browne for Gryffindor and Magdalena Wickham-Deakin for Slytherin and tell them that you wish to stay back the year. As it is possible that your Head of House might miss your message to them, feel free to add myself, Solomon Lear or my deputy headmaster Hjørdis Jensen to this message. Player choose to stay back for many reasons, such as registering onto the site late in the year and wanting to "get the full year experience," having a friend join that they want to be the same year as, or because they feel this will fit their character. The only restriction to this is: if you have roleplayed in the school this year, we are not able to undo your existence here. You would have been here at those times.

For players that have been held back, we do offer them a chance to catch-up. This is called the Advancement Program, this is an opportunity for players that have been held back one or more years. Information on this program can be found here. This opens up to general users on July 1, however for players in their 6th year that should be graduating that have been held back, we are offering them this option early. They are free to apply now to catch up. The Advancement Program otherwise will be open to players from July 1 to August 31.