The Leaky Cauldron (website)

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The Leaky Cauldron
Screenshot
Main page
Type of businessPrivate company
Limited liability company
Type of site
Harry Potter
Available inEnglish (U.S.)
HeadquartersNew York, USA
OwnerLeaky Net, LLC (New York)[1]
Key peopleMelissa Anelli
URLwww.the-leaky-cauldron.org
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched5 July 2000; 23 years ago (2000-07-05)

The Leaky Cauldron, also called Leaky, TLC, or Leaky News, is a

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

Internet business is currently incorporated as the for-profit Leaky Net Inc.[1] (to be distinguished from the non-profit arm, Leaky, Inc.[3]
).

Early history

The Leaky Cauldron website was started by Kevin C. Murphy on 5 July 2000, as a

Geocities site managed through Blogger
. It moved to its own domain on 4 December 2000. with B.K. DeLong taking control a year later 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 28 January 2005, Leaky debuted the Leaky Lounge, a forum for Harry Potter discussion. The forum currently has over 120,000 registered members. As of 2023, the forum appears to have been shut down.

The Leaky Cauldron was also part of the "Floo Network", a collection of Harry Potter sites that also included

legal action pursued by JK Rowling
against its creator and webmaster, Steve Vander Ark.

April Fools' Day jokes

The site is also known for the

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
.

Projects

PotterCast

Main article: PotterCast

PotterCast is the Leaky Cauldron's official podcast. Launched on 22 August 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.

LeakyNews.com

Leaky bought leakynews.com on 20 November 2005 to make their URL shorter and make access to their site easier. In October 2011, LeakyNews split from the main site to form a new entertainment website disconnected from the Harry Potter franchise, the new website allows members to write and contribute their own articles on an area of popular culture they enjoy.

Relationship with the franchise

Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling 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.[4] 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.[5] In January 2008, Rowling appeared and was interviewed on PotterCast; during the interview, she called Leaky "[her] favorite fan site."[6] 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 4 November 2008.

The site also has a good relationship with

Arthur A. Levine Books and Bloomsbury Publishing
.

In July 2020, The Leaky Cauldron, together with

transphobic statements the previous month. In a joint statement the sites wrote that her views were "out of step with the message of acceptance and empowerment we find in her books and celebrated by the Harry Potter community." They announced that they would no longer use photos of author, provide links to her website, or write about achievements unrelated to the Potterverse.[7]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

LeakyCon

Further information:
LeakyCon

In May 2009, Leaky hosted LeakyCon 2009, a Harry Potter fan convention held in Boston, Massachusetts, the proceeds of which went to

Wizarding World of Harry Potter
theme park). Proceeds benefited Book Aid International and The HP Alliance.

In 2012, LeakyCon was held again, taking place in Chicago, Illinois, from 9 August to the 12th.[9]

In 2013, LeakyCon held its first international conference in London, England, from 8 to 12 August, as well as the now traditional American conference, held in Portland, Oregon in June that year.[10]

Awards

Awards received by the site include the 2005

People's Choice Award,[11] a 2002 Bloggie award,[12] a Movies.com Fan Favorite Awards in 2004 and 2005, a Fan Site Award from J. K. Rowling[13] and a 2006 Webby People's Voice Award.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Leaky Net, LLC Registration with the State of New York[permanent dead link]. 22 February 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2010
  2. ^ "New York Times Best Sellers, Paperback Nonfiction". 23 November 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  3. ^ Leaky, Inc. Non-Profit Registration with the State of New York[permanent dead link]. 26 November 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2010
  4. ^ J. K. Rowling (22 December 2004). "'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' to be Published 16th July 2005". JKRowling.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006.
  5. ^ J. K. Rowling. "Meeting Melissa and Emerson". JKRowling.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2006.
  6. ^ J. K. Rowling. PotterCast Interview with J. K. Rowling. PotterCast. Archived from the original (MP3 Audio) on 27 September 2007. I love everyone who's on The Leaky Cauldron site, which is my favorite fansite.
  7. ^ "Harry Potter fan sites distance themselves from JK Rowling over transgender rights". The Guardian. 3 July 2020.
  8. ^ Melissa Anelli (12 February 2008). "Presenting...LeakyCon 2009!". The Leaky Cauldron.
  9. ^ Melissa Anelli (11 November 2011). "LeakyCon 2012: August 9–12 in Chicago, Illinois". The Leaky Cauldron. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011.
  10. ^ Melissa Anelli (12 August 2012). "LeakyCon to be held in Portland and London 2013". The Leaky Cauldron.
  11. ^ Netimperitive Staff (2 February 2006). "Harry Potter fan portal voted top site of 2005". Netimperative. Archived from the original on 4 February 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  12. ^ "Second Annual Weblog Awards: The 2002 Bloggies". The Weblog Awards.
  13. ^ J.K. Rowling. "Section: Fan Sites – The Leaky Cauldron". JKRowling.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2006.
  14. ^ "10th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners". Webby Awards.

External links

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