News: The All-New
Student Lounge

On
January 21st, 2016, Headmistress Oshiro made an exciting announcement to the
students of HiH.

“A letter written recently by Jimmy Dunwich—on behalf of many of you, I’m sure—raised concerns regarding suitability and quality of lesson material, accessibility of professors, lack of transparency, and disrepair of the site. We heard you, but recognizing the breadth and complexity of the discussion, asked you to be patient with us while we worked out a better way to conduct it. Since then, we have been working hard on a platform which we hope will allow easier communication of your needs and concerns, our plans and ideas, and everyone’s vision for a better Hogwarts experience. Students, on behalf of the entire HiH staff, I present to you your new Student Lounge! 

http://s15.zetaboards.com/HiH_Student_Lounge/index/ 

It comes with all kinds of fun things you’ve been waiting for, like clubs, a news board, and even chats! 

I would like to direct your attention specifically to the Suggestions forum, where we hope you can share your concerns and suggestions, and discuss your ideas not only with us, but with your peers as well. In fact, we felt that some of the forum feature we chose to include would best be completed after we invited you in for feedback, so please do make a point of stopping by! 

We know that an external website with yet another account isn’t the ideal solution, but we felt it would be the best and most expedient way, given current circumstances, to connect with you—as well as to help you connect with others.”

Students all over HiH were extremely excited when they heard the news, and the account tally on the new Student Lounge shot up. Whether they were someone who missed the Great Hall, Common Room, Dorm, and Club chats, someone who wanted a way to connect more with the HiH community, a place to have their suggestions for HiH be heard, or just have an easier (and far less glitchy) version of the owl system on HiH, the Student Lounge has something for you.

Besides adding the features that HiH site has previously had that are now unusable or glitchy, the HiH Student Lounge also adds new things to do and ways to get to know your classmates and professors. 

Notification Board

Once you’ve created an account and requested access to your house (instructions for signing up can be found in the thread ‘Get access here!’) you can access the bulk of the forums. At the top of your screen, the first category you see is “Notification Board.” 

The first topic under this category is “Announcements & News.” A place to read the latest messages from the HiH staff, you can go to this topic to learn about any available opportunities such as a PA applications, chat moderator applications, or professor applications, and important information such as major changes to the site or forums or a new member of the staff.

Second, there is “Rules & Instructions,” where you can find all the rules and regulations necessary to keep the forum running smoothly. Within it you can find the expectations for participating in the chats, roleplaying, clubs, and more.

Around the Water Cooler

Next on the category list is ‘Around the Water Cooler,’ a category mainly for getting to know your fellow HiHers and general socialization. With easy to join and understand topics, it’s a great place to start integrating yourself into the community. 

The first topic in ‘Around the Water Cooler’ is ‘Introductions,’ where you can fill out a simple form available on the thread to introduce yourself and learn about other people through their introductions.

Next, there is ‘General Discussions’ - a pretty self explanatory one. Sometimes we just need to talk, and this is the place to do it.

‘Forum Games’ is a great place to go if you’re feeling stressed, tense, or bored, and just want to play a few fun, Harry Potter-related, games with your classmates. From games like ‘Would you rather’ and ’Let’s tell a story’ to ones like ‘Harry Potter Hurt and Heal’ and ‘Corrupt a wish’ it’s a great place to just relax and have fun.

And then, last but not least, there is ‘Roleplaying.’ You can choose from one of three roleplaying levels to choose from. Privet Drive, which anyone can join, is the thread for beginning-level roleplay, and a place to engage in less structured roleplay. For the next two, the Shrieking Shack and Godric’s Hollow, you have you submit a request to Professor Batyeava to gain access to the groups. Once in, however, you can join medium (Shrieking Shack) to high-level (Godric's Hollow) roleplay.

Studying Area

The next category on the page is the ‘Studying Area.’ Consisting of two topics, ‘Schoolwork Questions’ and ‘Library,’ this topic is an excellent place to work up that motivation and get back to your schoolwork, whether studying with a friend, asking questions about classes, or working and getting feedback on your new book.

‘Schoolwork Questions’ is, again, fairly self-explanatory. You can post any questions or clarifications you need about a particular class, and receive answers from your classmates.

The ‘Library’ topic is a peaceful spot (that apparently smells like fresh cookies - hopefully that means that they’re available there!) where you can study with a classmate, ask for help with a project you might be working on, or ask for feedback on a chapter for a book you plan to post in the library. 

Common Rooms

I spy, with my little eye… the return of the House Common Room chats! An original feature on the HiH site, the on-site Common Room chats were taken down due to inactivity, to be replaced with the Common Room feeds in the beta site. However, a number of students must have asked for them to come back, since the four House Common Room topics are now available on the Student Lounge.

To gain access to your House’s common room, you must have the password (or, in the case of the Ravenclaw house, the riddle that you need to answer) to enter the topic, which you receive in a message from your Head of House when you join the house group. 

Once in, you can join the common room chat with your housemates, fill out a dorm form to create or join a dorm with your friends, and post threads that can only seen by your house. This also means the return of the dorm chats (another previous feature on the site), so we may see an increase in the number of active dorms as well.

School Clubs

Another returning feature, clubs are a way to connect with classmates who share interests with you (such as fan clubs, activity clubs, etc.) There are three types of clubs available on the Student Lounge, and therefore three topics.

Official Clubs are clubs approved by the HiH Staff. They have their own topic, with multiple threads and a chat for the members. Unofficial Clubs do not need to be approved, but are restricted to a single thread for the members. Restricted Clubs are clubs with mature content, which can only be joined by those proven to be above the age of sixteen.

Site Evaluations

An especially needed and looked forward to aspect of the Lounge, this category allows students to easily communicate their concerns and/or suggestions about any aspect of the site, be it academic, social, site-related, or even about the forums themselves.

In each topic, you can create a topic concerning your suggestion, and a staff member will get back to you as soon as they can. Many people have previously expressed a wish for easier methods of communication between the students and staff, so this is an excellent solution.

The Great Hall

Yet another previous feature of the site and sorely missed by many, the Great Hall provides an inter-house chat where you can meet and talk to students and professors of all years, positions, and houses. A couple of students interviewed previously mentioned that the Great Hall had been their “absolute favorite aspect of the site,” that they had “met some of my very best friends through the Great Hall” and that they were “incredibly excited to have it back.”

Overall, the new HiH Student Lounge will hopefully be an effective way for students to join the community, meet new friends, play fun games with their classmates, receive answers to their questions, and submit and have their suggestions heard by the staff. And, with the addition of the Suggestions section, more features may be added, as per students ideas or requests. So far, it looks like it will be an excellent and meaningful addition to the HiH experience.