Why Harry Potter Fans Flock to Sectus.org

The Harry Potter frenzy has only grown since the release of the initial Harry Potter book in the series, with fan sites and blogs proliferating across the web. While millions of devoted fans update their MySpace profiles and personal blogs with the latest news, it's sites like Sectus.org that bring forward the best of Harry Potter fandom.

Sectus.org is updated daily to provide fans with the latest news, insights, and commentary about Harry Potter and upcoming events. It's become one of the web's largest communities for Harry Potter fanart and fan fiction, featuring its own SpellCast podcast section with over a million posts. A recent interview with Heidi Tandy, site manager and moderator of Sectus.org, shone some light on the developments on the world of the web and beyond.

Sectus.org launched in July 2001, a collective effort of volunteers to bring together the world's growing Harry Potter fandom communities. Heidi reports that the website averages about 50,000 visitors per week. During Harry Potter release season, this number is likely much higher. The website hosts over 20,000 works of fanart, along with 10,000 authors of fan fiction; Spell-Cast.com offers vidcasts, podcasts, and even audio files of 'wizadry rock' available for download. Not only is this one of the most comprehensive sites for Harry Potter fans to date, but it's also catching on to the needs of the blog-hungry public. The site is updated daily with an average of 25 chapters of fresh fiction each day.

Still, the truly devoted are involved with the fan-organized conferences and local events; Elanor Isolda, Conference Chair of Sectus, explains that 'Sectus.org was initially launched to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Harry Potter series. Now we are celebrating the end of the series, and are fortunate to be the largest fan-organised Harry Potter conference ever held in Europe.' The next production is slated for 2009, and the committee is already working on plans to schedule and launch the event. The organization is based in London, and regularly conducts tours of London and the surrounding area-all with a Harry Potter story, of course.

Sectus.org provides a news forum for updates on Harry Potter, and feature articles cover movie and book premieres, Harry Potter conferences, and fandom events around the world. Conferences are one of the biggest reasons Harry Potter fans stay in touch; these face-to-face events offer plenty of socializing and networking opportunities for all ages. While fandom increases in scope and size, it serves as inspiration for many Harry Potter fans around the world. From cooking to wizardry, essay writing and crafts, it's easy to see why fans flock to Sectus.org for the latest in the world of Harry Potter!