Apparently it is the 27th of December. Who knew?

And we all know what that means, it means I try and update you on all of the new goings on on Beyond Stone Walls, starting with stats, because if you go back and look at stats for last December you will probably see that we are growing insanely fast. At the time of writing we were up to 18937 Posts in 2094 Topics by 455 Members. Yes, a paltry 455 members, oh, horror. This is quite the accomplishment and as usual I have to thank everyone who joined in the last month, it is splendid to have some new people to post with. Beyond Stone Walls should/will be continuing to chase down potential new members with nets.

Most of the energy I have has been going towards the development of version two (or now maybe version one and a half) of the boards. There are going to be a lot of new features in the offering. We’re going to have shops and medals finally (something that has been promised since the opening of the board) as well as some other new features I think most everyone will be fond of. The move is tentatively set for January, but knowing me it may get pushed back further. I need to know about any features people want to see happen on the boards. Additionally, people who like code and PHP who want to help with some updates can get in touch with me, as well as people who like pixels can chase down Miki. We can always use some help!

As for more new things! New adults, and canons — we want you! I’d even like to see some adult canons… has anyone considered playing Bill, Percy or Charlie Weasley — what about Mundungus Fletcher oh please? What about professors? There has been some talk of “Class Assignments” for bonus house points so (and I’m just going to list them now) how about Filius Flitwick, Aurora Sinistra, Pomona Sprout, Cuthbert Binns, Bathsheba Babbling, Charity Burbage… hell, I’d take a Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank! For the lesser known professors your imagination is the limit for what you can do with them so I really encourage you to write up a profile (Like Vector’s maaaaagical sex change)! As far as canon students, let’s see us a Neville Longbottom, a CrabbeNGoyle, a Lee Jordan, a Parvati Patil, a Seamus Finnegan, a Colin Creevey, a Hannah Abbot, an Ernie Macmillan and a Justin Finch-Fletchley yeah really, perhaps a Marietta Edgecomb… which brings me to my next point pretty nicely.

The DA is about to finally exist! Mr. Potter and I have been working pretty hard at a DA system that will actually force members to post, so be on the look out for that. Currently the DA is pretty full, but I have discovered that Potter has a lot of trouble saying ‘no’ and so therefore you can probably still squeeze a member or two into the DA if you ask really nice.

And I mean, that’s all fine for us good guys, but what if you’re a super villian like Miki, our adorablely nefarious admin? Well, you are in luck, because Draco Malfoy is starting to build up his evil empire known as the Inquisitorial Squad (and yes, sometimes Umbridge even rolls around to steal candy from infants and the like). Would you like to rule the school? Well let Mr. Malfoy know and once that gets up and running beware the IS! I think the DA’s numbers more than double the IS so we’re REALLY looking for people to join. Come on now, this is book five — you guys are WINNING. Once Cj tells me where you’ll even get a cool club house like the DA has.

Also, Order of the Phoenix, you have missions, start doing them or I’m revoking your membership — don’t test me.

On to Quidditch, my love my hate. Quidditch is going well, we’re still trying to form a system we can stick with in that careful balance between challenging and impossible. We do, of course, love to hear from users about what they think of Quidditch so any questions or comments can be thrown at Li or I. Also PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING YOUR HOUSE TEAM! Really, we adore new players and are willing to sell our souls to get them. If you’ve never played Quidditch and have a few questions any captain or assistant captain is probably already dying to explain it to you. Quidditch is probably going to be seeing a lot of change over the next few months.

I think finally, and someone will correct me if this isn’t a real finally — please participate in prefect run events. Particularly in nominating people for character and post of the month. The team has had a hell of a time finding people and really, we know there is enough talent here to sink a ship so nominate, participate and have a good New Year.