Did they think we wouldn’t notice? Did they think we would forget? Did they think we wouldn’t care?
Today Pottermore released the highly anticipated article about Draco Malfoy. Actually, that sentence should say “re-released”, and did you notice that I didn’t include the word “new” before “article”? That’s right, folks, we’ve seen this article before. Way back when the second book was released, we were given the same article about Draco.
I was excited when I saw “A sneaky Slytherin’s secrets divulged” on the Pottermore Insider this morning—though simultaneously guilty of not remembering that an article about Draco Malfoy already exists. When I entered the answer to riddle number eleven, which is Draco Malfoy, and started reading, it all came back to me. I thought that the first few sentences seemed vaguely familiar. I thought that I had read them before. As it turns out, I had.
Admittedly, I haven’t reread today’s entire article, so it’s entirely possible that some new paragraphs have been added, but doing a quick comparison against the previously released article, they’re exactly the same. Then again, it’s also probable that both articles were updated, if an update was in fact made, but I think it’s more likely that it’s the exact same article as it was revealed during the release of Chamber of Secrets on Pottermore.
This is not the first time that this has happened. There are two other duplicate character articles, which are notated as being duplicates (with italics and asterisks) on the Pottermore Index:
- Gilderoy Lockhart (Lockhart’s Office)2
- Gilderoy Lockhart (Valentine’s Day)*2
- Professor McGonagall (The Entrance Hall)1
- Professor McGonagall (Harry Becomes an Outcast)*1
And now there’s a duplicate Draco Malfoy article to add to this list. At first, I thought these duplicates were the result of a simple mistake—an oversight. In fact, here’s what I wrote on the Pottermore Index: *This is actually the same article, but for some reason is featured in two separate moments. Now, I’m starting to realize that these duplicates are probably deliberate. Pottermore (seemingly deliberately) re-releases the same article in separate moments simply to hype it up and get visitors to revisit Pottermore and check out these presumably “new” articles.
See for yourself! Here are the two same articles from the two separate moments:
In order to gain access to the article in bold (above), you need to answer the following riddle (this picture is from the Pottermore Insider), which is, as I’ve already said, Draco Malfoy.
What I don’t fully understand is why use these tactics to get visitors? There aren’t any advertisements on Pottermore, which means that they aren’t getting any money directly from visitors—at least, I don’t think they are. The only money they make is through the ebooks and audiobooks they sell in the Pottermore Shop. Then again, I’m not an expert on Pottermore’s business model, and there’s probably something about this whole thing that I’m missing. All I know is what I know from running my own website, which is that the only money I make (which doesn’t even come close to covering my expenses right now, unfortunately) is through advertisements. Not that I’m complaining; FictionRow’s coverage of the highs (and lows) of the #PottermoreChristmas campaign has brought in the most visitors its ever seen!
What do you think about these duplicate articles? Share in the comments!
