Enhancement to the Journal Program

[alt_selwyn]

I am pleased to announce a new enhancement to the journals. It is now possible to communicate more privately with one or two people using your journal. Simply write 'Private Message to' followed by one or two names, and then write the rest of your entry as usual. The content of your message will be invisible to all but the intended recipients, who will be able to reply to it as they would any other journal entry.

So, for instance, if I wished to send a message to Robert and Sarah Smith, I would write 'Private Message to Robert and Sarah Smith' in the subject line. Anyone who regularly reads my journal would see that I had written a private message to the Smiths, but would be unable to read anything further.

To answer a few of the questions I have already been asked:

* You may send a private message to only two people at once, but there is no limit to the number of such messages you may write.

* If two individuals share the same name, any additional description (such as an address, a town, or a personal description) will suffice. You do not need to write out the exact name provided that no one else shares the nickname (so, 'Private Message to the Razzer' will reach Mr Lestrange unless there is another Razzer with whom we are not acquainted.)

* All regulations and policies regarding communication by owl apply to this method of communication as well.

* Muggleborns in service who are in possession of journals may use this feature, but their owner of record must always be one of the two people who may view the message.

Many thanks to our gracious and glorious Lord Protector! Any further questions may be left as replies to this entry.

Comments

I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_neville]

So what do you all think?

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_lee]

You're kidding, right?

No. Bloody. Way.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_gredforge]

We'll stick to our own lock.

We even thought of it first.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I think it would be a good idea for you and Ron, and for me and Pansy, to use private messages regularly.

Everyone knows we're mates. It would be odd if we DIDN'T use it.

So long as we never EVER forget that Bellatrix Lestrange can read anything we write in them, and never say things like, 'oh, I'd better go say this more privately.' If anything, I think MLE will pay more attention to the private messages than to things people just wrote in the open.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_gredforge]

Hmm. Good point, Perks.

See, there's a reason we keep you Slytherin lot around. Sometimes we can really benefit from your twisty thinking.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

Why thank you.

It's sort of the way the rest of us keep you Gryffindors around so we can send you out to battle dragons, if any come calling.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_neville]

That'll be real weird. I dunno if I'll be able to make it sound convincing. I'm pants at trying to fool anybody.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_pansy]

Well, it could just be a load of nothing. Random jokes or making fun of teachers or whinging about homework.

I mean, we're just kids and all, so if you want to keep something really random private, it wouldn't seem too weird.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I agree with Pansy. Use it when you want to complain about Acton or even Carrow -- no one in MLE will care if we're complaining about our teachers. Or to make fun of Padma Patil, no one in MLE will care about that, either.

It is a bit odd they're limiting us to two.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_pansy]

I was thinking the same thing. As long as it's nothing we wouldn't mind being read by someone at the Ministry. And it's not like I'll be writing personal messages to the twins or something when this will do just fine, but it would be weird if we didn't take full advantage.

And this way, if we do it enough, it won't seem too dodgy when Ron and Neville know something they wouldn't have otherwise, so it'll be easier to hide this.

It's awful interesting they're only letting us write two people at a time, though.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I have to admit I'm a little curious what would happen if I started a private message to Pansy and then added a comment under the lock -- would that be a message that really and truly, ONLY Pansy could read?

It makes me a bit nervous, though. What if somehow everything canceled out?

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_pansy]

We wouldn't have a good way to check it, so I'd rather you didn't.