Here is an article which talks about the rise of Harry Potter fan sites from the very beginning until now. It talks about how the series has a huge fan base and how the sites have evolved from just message boards updated every week or so, to, say, what veritaserum has to offer. They mention a few fan sites but mainly focus on mugglenet.

What do you guys think about this when looking back? We've come pretty far from the first book. I guess they'll mention veritaserum in their next article...

I wasn't able to download the article, but I would have to say the sites have come far. If you go back to when it all started, there were some, but not much. They also weren't widely used, nor did they have as much information. Now so many people use the sites, and so much information is added, that sometimes not all of it gets in! Its great to see how far we've come, but I'm kind of worried what will happen when the last movie has been done for a while because there won't be as much to talk about anymore unless Jo actually did something else.

I agree, I think i might burst into tears when I walk out of the cinema after DH....

This site as well as many other sites have come very far, in my opinion, because of the development of the books as a series. JK Rowling has made the characters very relateable to generations of kids, and as a result the fan sites have been booming. I am impressed with veritaserum so far, and hope it progresses even more.

alliromo is totally right.. the relateability of the books characters to us is a great influence on making the books popular on and off line...in fact that is one of my favorite parts of the books

Yes, passed these few weeks there has been a great rise in the number of Harry Potter fans joining fan sites like this. The fan sites have done a great job to help Harry Potter to success and promoting it

What I like doing alot is finding alot of Harry Potter fansites & see all that was discuss , predictions & compare it to now. See how thoughts & opinions have changed. It has this feeling of a long timee. If you know what I mean. Later on when the DH movie comes out & I look back at what I have written I'll probably laugh to myself & I don't know its like memory lane

this site has come so far
i know this because when i signedup a while back i didnt realise the soem of the older disscussions hadnt had new posts for aaaaaagggggggessssssssssss
so i was reading the old posts like predictions for fith book etc and asking why petunia hated lily so much
so i could a and answer tose questions
and it makes me wish i had joined much earlier whent he site was thriving with rumours etc
it has fizzled out alot since DH was released
but fanfic is still going strong!

can't wait to see an article about Veritaserum .
When i look back i can't believe how the Harry Potter series rose to this level
Do you know something about a 8th book ?

I wasn't able to download the article, but I think I can get what you are saying. Harry Potter really is like amazing with how it started and how far it has come. I love how it was a mere novel once written by a infamous English writer, and now it is one of the biggest phenomenons ever.It is truly amazing.

I couldn't see the article either.

But, yes. Harry Potter fansites are phenomenal. MuggleNet, TLC, Veritaserum, Snitchseeker, HPANA, Potterish, and countless others have completely revamped the way information is provided and discussions are made. And that too about something fictional.

I've been a lurker here at Veritaserum for ages. And I have also seen how the forums have grown, and countless theories, some scarily accurate and some amusingly random.

Till the DH movies, it is still going to stay strong. And I don't really see why it should stop there either. After all, there are LotR fans out there.

Fansites have brought together people and fans from different parts of the world and some of us have become really close friends. Mine own example, I have made some really close friends from various parts of the world, France, US, Australia and in India too.

I have been running an Evanna Lynch Fansite - Luna Fans - for two years now. And from it too, I have become friends with people I didn't even know existed, garnered knowledge and learnt so much about teamwork. It's really amazing how something that was run as an experiment can change your whole perspective towards a thing. And make your compassion grow along.

Back when I got into Harry Potter I wasn't a forum fanatic like I am now, with VTM.
I did hear a lot about fan sites, mainly Leaky and Mugglenet.
When I was in high school, my best friend and I would go on fan sites looking for clues to the next books on such sites as mugglenet and I vaguely rememmber coming across Veritaserum.
It is amazing to see how the Harry Potter fanbase has evolved from a few fans of the books to fanatics like we get on here . *points to self*
In the end I joined VTM because I wanted to discuss real Potter issues with other real fans without having it thrown in my face that I am an obsessed fan.
And it's been really great so far. ^^

I have to say that as an "older" HP fan, I didn't realize the large scope of internet fan sites and, aside from the info they can provide, the outlet they provide for fans to connect. I have to admit that I don't do well with change, so when the internet was getting bigger and bigger in the 1990s I just didn't see the point of it (I did mention that I'm "older" didn't I... *ahem*40*ahem*).

Now, I have my laptop on continually, with a wireless connection, and seems that I'm constantly online for one reason or another. If I think of something that I want answers to, I immediately 'google" it and read all I can about it... which is how I found VTM. I came here looking for answers to "those unanswered questions" (you know the ones... the ones with NO answers because JKR "forgot" to answer them! ). It was after reading through the posts and realizing how easy it was to navigate through this site that I decided to stay! Personally, if Mugglenet or Leaky Cauldron had been as easy to get around and read posts I may have stayed there, since those were the foremost sites listed when googling. Luckily, they weren't easy or as friendly and I found VTM. This is also the only fan site I frequent. There were a few "Twilight" sites that I tried, but hated how their threads were organized... I just stopped bothering.

I believe that many of the discussions get old, mainly because there is little to speculate over and there are only so many ways to say "I love/hate Umbridge/Hermione/Harry/Dumbledore etc". The books are done so there is no more guessing as to what the end will bring, and most of us have "healed" from the series being done. Granted, with 3 more movies coming out there will certainly be some opinions (1 or 2 haha) to be thrown about regarding how the movies were made.

In my opinion, fan sites are great places, but to me they have to be easy to navigate, and so far VTM is the easiest!

ChannelingGinny I am half your age but it seems you are more like younger generations than you think! I too have my laptop on with wireless all day long^^
I agree, a site like this needs to be easy to navigate which is one of many reasons why I am such a big fan of the VTM site. Also, the support you get from mods/admin plays a big factor as does the regularity of updates by members and staff alike. It's also bright and a lot of fun.

I tried to join Leaky but there were problems signing up which I later found out wasn't just a problem I had. I emailed the staff there but never got a reply. I joined snitchseeker but found it daunting and cliquey, with a rediculous amount of rules and then by pure coincidence I clicked a link which took me here and I've been an addict ever since.