Share Your HNZ Memories

[Stefan Archer]

Hello HNZers,

As you can see HNZ has just turned 10! 10 is a very important birthday so why don't you share some of your favourite moments/memories from your time on HNZ here in this topic. Whether it's a particular topic, a banner you found funny (I'll see if I can find my first ever banner) or anything then here is the place to post it!

To start off, let's start simply with a when/why did you join up? This is always a fun question, and I'll give my answer first just to get the ball rolling.

I first joined HNZ on a whim, in December of 2007, I had the morning off from school (due to an exam I'd had first thing) and was looking at random Harry Potter pages on Bebo. I came across an ad for an RPG forum based around Harry Potter. I had a little look around the board and really liked it so, I made a snap decision to join HNZ, it looked really fun and I wanted to join in, despite my non-knowledge of how forums work, how to RP or really a grasp on the English language. I thought it would be good fun, I didn't quite know how the RPing thing worked, but I wanted to give it a try. I thought what harm can this place do. It was meant to just be something to fill my hours between school days. It is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

So now to you guys, why/when did you join HNZ? Any other memories of this place you'd like to share?
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[Hadan Winters]

I can go on ahead and type in when/why I joined. It is a little sad actually.

May of 2008, I was forced to move from my friends in Georgia, and started to live in Kentucky after not finishing my Sophomore year (if I did, I'd have enough credits to be a Senior in my new high school but my summer started two weeks early). My cousin, Kelsey, was already a member on the site, and since we both were Hogwarts buffs, she showed me the site and I used it as a distraction from losing all my friends. I didn't know what in the world a forum was, and all I cared about was learning more about Harry Potter stuff in lessons. It wasn't until Jaken Styx was made when I actually started RPing and talking to people, which was three months later. XD I was lucky that the Admins at the time allowed me to have a transfer which wasn't a thing before that year. It's been a big part of my life since, even when I got reunited with the friends I lost when I came back to Georgia.
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[Kida Frost]

Oh Gosh.

Well I first joined on New Years Eve 2008 with Jesse. Kinda sad! I don't even remember why I decided to join on NYE and not wait a few days, But my Friend Max (Henric Lee) told me to join. Myself, Max, Jesse & Michael were all friends online on Habbo Hotel and we did Roleplaying of a different kind. Since we were chatting on MSN I asked Jesse if he wanted to join and he did (10 members between us) and of course 11 day Later Michael joined with Sern. I remember we had in depth conversations about if we should make them siblings or cousins but Jesse decided he didn't want to be a Muggle born and we didn't want them to be twins (Or soon to be triplets with Michael Joining) so we decided on Cousin with Kida being older because I am older then them by 2 years. Gosh, thinking about it now what would it be like on HNZ with Aeon Frost.
Not much has changed, HNZ is 10 years old and I'm talking to Jesse (Michael just left) on Skype about our characters and developments. although I did stop throughout the years occasionally when I got busy with social life but I do remember using the computer during school hours to reply to role play's pretending to write up homework in a word document when I was actually writing a role play and quickly changing tabs to post.
I may have had a few warning levels next to my name but i'm still here 7 years later!

 

[Esme Lancaster]

Oh Gosh.

Well I first joined on New Years Eve 2008 with Jesse. Kinda sad! I don't even remember why I decided to join on NYE and not wait a few days, But my Friend Max (Henric Lee) told me to join. Myself, Max, Jesse & Michael were all friends online on Habbo Hotel and we did Roleplaying of a different kind. Since we were chatting on MSN I asked Jesse if he wanted to join and he did (10 members between us) and of course 11 day Later Michael joined with Sern. I remember we had in depth conversations about if we should make them siblings or cousins but Jesse decided he didn't want to be a Muggle born and we didn't want them to be twins (Or soon to be triplets with Michael Joining) so we decided on Cousin with Kida being older because I am older then them by 2 years. Gosh, thinking about it now what would it be like on HNZ with Aeon Frost.
Not much has changed, HNZ is 10 years old and I'm talking to Jesse (Michael just left) on Skype about our characters and developments. although I did stop throughout the years occasionally when I got busy with social life but I do remember using the computer during school hours to reply to role play's pretending to write up homework in a word document when I was actually writing a role play and quickly changing tabs to post.
I may have had a few warning levels next to my name but i'm still here 7 years later!

Same

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Well it seems that in a few weeks it will be four years since I joined the group.
Back in 2005 (or so) I remember joining a roleplay group on MSN based on Harry Potter. I was fourteen then and my English wasn't so good (English isn't my native tongue) so I experienced some sort of bullying about my grammar/vocabulary and I was forced to leave that group. That was the end of roleplaying for me for about six years.

Then in 2011 while being a student in UK, I was like a fish out of the pond. A new life, getting used to a second language I had to speak every day, having no friends at first. At the same time I had that urge to write stories as I always did. I decided to search for that group I had joined six years earlier and start roleplaying again but I found out that the admins had argued and eventually the group was left unattended. I search for another Harry Potter oriented roleplaying group but most I found were poorly moderated and didn't win me over. Until I stumbled upon HNZ. I was thrilled to find that the site was well-organized. At first I was really reluctant to join and for a couple of weeks I lurked around, reading topics, announcements, etc. I noticed how supportive the moderators were so I made my first character and joined the community.

Ever since my English had improved a lot, I want to believe the same about my writing skills. HNZ has been an escape for me, a place to relax. Let's look forward to the next 10 years of HNZ!

 

[Riley Sparkles]

Liam ~ your English is amazing! I didn't know it wasn't your first language. Awesomeee!

I just celebrated my 5th year anniversary with HNZ
The 25th of April is Anzac day in NZ. Five years ago, I had the day off.
I am a huge Harry Potter and game geek, and while I don't remember the exact details, I was looking for a Harry Potter game. I was probably more after a MMORPG, but I had done role-playing back in the day of Myspace chat rooms So anyway, I googled Harry Potter Role-Playing Games, and this probably came up pretty high in the list (yay NZ!)
This was by far the best site I had come across. All other forums were confusing to me, and not as well done and layed out as this one was. I registered under 'Donna200' before realizing that I actually have to make a character my username, it was cray! But I was hooked from day one!

 

[Samual Kaster]

So, I joined HNZ on April 3rd, 2010, with my sister, Teigan. We were previously on another role playing site that was shut down, and were directed to this place. At the other site I was not a very active member, as I was pretty young and still didn't quite grasp the whole "role playing" online thing. At first, I thought it was some sort of of mounter game! My curiosity of what it was to roleplay online was what got me to sign up. The site didn't quite grab me, and I mostly lurked about for the sake of Teigan, and it was similar with HNZ. I sorted my first character, Tamalia, and I remember feeling really nervous. I was super intimidated by how well the site functioned, and how friendly everyone was (yes, friendliness intimidated me. You may judge ) and I kind of flittered between extreme activity and inactivity for a bit. I made some adults, some more students, etcetera. But I think after a few months I bombed and didn't reappear for a considerable amount of time.

Around February 2012 (I think) I became a much more current and active member of the site, and grew super attached to it. In that two years I had had a perspective shift, and it did me good. Since then HNZ has always been a part of my life, whether it's staying up until I'm writing gibberish, to lurking about on guest when I can't spare the time to actually log in. My English was simply terrible, to be frank, and writing was really quite challenging for me. HNZ certainly helped with that, as well as my confidence, and it has also influenced my plans for the future, especially in terms of travel. I also dragged through English, and because of HNZ I became much more proficient in it, and it was no longer as difficult. One of the most attractive things about HNZ was that the site was organised, and friendly, and while I first found these traits to be intimidating, I eventually realised that the doors were always open, and the site and it's members and staff are all really accommodating and helpful, and I'm happy to say that I'm a part of hyena community. Even if at times I must take leave because of life, I always find my way back.

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[Prudence Armstead]

So I don't really know how to share my joining story without it getting super personal. I've been on this site off and on for quite a few years, since around 2008-2009, something like that. Maybe sooner. Regardles I joined with two friends, and had a lot of fun until I got really really sick.

I left the site at that time and underwent treatment for what was later diagnosed as EDNOS. I wasn't on the site a lot during that time because the doctors constantly checked my computer and I was embarrassed to be a roleplayer. About a year ago though I came back to the site with Prudence Armstead. I actually used my full name in her character slot because I was afraid no one would talk to me because I kept leaving. Now though I've been around pretty solidly, and am excited to stay like that until I can't type anymore. I can't believe the amount of support I've received from everyone. This site is so amazing!

(I'm not crying... you're crying.)

 

[Estrella Drage]

I joined in July 2007. I'd been on a Myspace HP site where some monster was posting spoilers about the Deathly Hallows (which had yet to come out yet.) There, a mysterious woman named Alicia Barker had posted a link to this site. At the time, the link was something like s11.[the site before zetaboards].com/HNZ and yes, I did memorize it. The rest is history. I was very obsessive for years, had some wacky plots and watched Estrella and Chace Harker graduate from HNZ, but I haven't been all that active since 2010.

 

[Cyndi Kingsley]

When I joined the site, I had been working as a TA for two summer English classes with a wide gap between the classes. For most of the summer, I had spent the gap in the computer lab which had great AC. There was enough time to get bored but not enough time to actually do anything. I had just finished the last book and wanted a place besides mugglenet (do any of you remember that site?!) to chat with people about the book. I came across something on Facebook, probably a post in some Harry Potter group, where Alicia had mentioned the site. I clicked the link, registered with my full name (what a noob. ), and spent the rest of my break lurking which is pretty much what I did for the next year. I wasn't really interested in making internet friends, but I did find the RPing of classes aspect fun so I would just pop on to post lessons and that was it. I read other RPs but never felt comfortable enough to participate.

Eventually, some of the more active Gryffindors at the time began reaching out to me and encouraged me to participate in other RPs. That's when I really became attached to Cyndi Weasley as I actually began to develop her character. It wasn't until I'd been on the site for almost a year that I realized that it was ok to make another character, and Irene came into existence. I slowly, ever so slowly, became an active RPer with a small group of people that seemed to grow every so often. It worked for me though. By that time, I was in grad school, and working a part time job and an internship. Had I been overwhelmed with RPs, HNZ would have lost what it has always been for me, even in my current admin position: a place to unwind from my daily stresses and enjoy the company of some pretty cool people who happen to be part of an ever more cool fandom. That feeling hasn't changed yet, which is why I think I still find myself here after all of these years.

 

[Samuel Phillips]

It's so interesting to read about everyone's HNZ origins and how unique they all are! The story of how I joined is not near as interesting as everyone else's but I thought I'd share anyway!

I think it was in 2009 that I initially joined when Melissa/Micah showed me the site in one of our computing classes (idk what class we were in but it was in one of the computer rooms). I would have stayed active because I found the concept of the site really remarkably interesting and I had always liked the idea of world building and thinking up stories, though I couldn't be active despite how much I wanted to thanks to the fact I had yet to have an internet connection at my house. As a result I completely forgot the site existed and wasn't fully active until (CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC) Samuel happened in 2011. My entire friend group was part of the site (Melissa/Micah, Liv, Brittany, and Jasmine I think was all of them) so it was normal to just talk about site happenings and current plots, and because it had become such a normal thing in the group it really got me properly interested in role playing. Though I don't talk to people in that group anymore for various different reasons that are both bad and equally good, they are the reason I joined in the first place and a small part of the reason I'm still active today!
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[Rhiannon Archer]

So my story is a fairly simple one.

It was the start of October 2008 and usually I walked home from school and then caged out on my laptop anyway I hadn't really been into social networks much (and by that I mean MySpace, I dont think I had discovered Facebook by that time) but kf had started on bebo and was enjoying that. I was a member of a group called loony for Luna (or something like that) and I saw that someone had posted a link to this sites page. Thinking it sounded interested I followed it and ended up here. I lurked a little bit and a couple of days later I returned and signed up with an account called elvera (I sort of missed the whole first and last name thing) the name had been in my head from a thing I had been writing for a drama thing I had in class. I had looked up e name and it meant warrior of the elves (well technically that was elvara and elvera meant white but I still think of it was warrior of the elves) I think I must have just missed sorting as I can remember the Halloween feast of that year but I spent a year not really posting much but lurking quite a lot, in much the way I do now, but even less posting. I always said I was t going to go overboard with charictors and even after seven and a half years I am still on a relitivly modist 15 or so.
Through my time here I feel I have grow. Up I with my charictors. And they have become as much a part of me as I have become the. Hnz has been a haven at times when I have been going through tough times or lonely times or just long summer holidays. I have come through stages of obsessiveness and more laid back participation but I don't think I have ever had an absence of more than a week since I joined. Actually I think I have been on almost every day (take holidays where I had no Internet)
I have found some friends here who conversations have kept me up until 3am laughing and plotting. And I hope there are many more conversations and plots to come. Thank you hnz

 

[Maya Fergusson]

Well, my story is similar to Tenile's in a lot of ways, but is also different in some others. I first joined in 2009 after HWA was shut down. I didn't role-play on here at all in that time. I literally just created a character and then left because I was kind of huffy about HWA having been shut down. I was like fourteen, so sue me Anyway, mid way through 2010, like Tenile, I rejoined. Melissa and Zach had been nagging me about it for weeks and they wouldn't relent until I agreed to try again. As it turned out, I rather enjoyed my second visit! I was really intrigued by how well put together everyone seemed to be and I wanted to jump right into roleplaying again! I will admit that I was and sometimes still am, a super n00b. But who isn't amirite? Anyway, so after a little while I sorted another character and some more and some more until I had grown my little one, into about fifteen. Which, at the time, was a super big deal for me. I'd never had so many characters in my life. It was around that time that I made my first absence. Exams were right around the corner and I had a sick relative that I didn't know how much time I would have with. I left the site for nearly six moths before returning again.

I wasn't really until about... end of 2011, beginning of 2012 that I really started to make friends online and I started to branch out more with my roleplaying. It became like a second home to me and my piddly little fifteen characters of yesteryear became over eighty and now I have over a hundred (I've misplaced quite a few since joining, shh) Even though I come and go constantly (dude I'm like the ROR) I always come back because of the friends I have made here of the years.
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[Stefan Archer]

It is excellent fun to hear all about how people got involved with the site! It's always good fun to hear how people found and got involved with the site. So people should feel free to continue to share how they first found HNZ! As well as sharing other memories of this place!

I remember the switch from the old white skin to the second skin, the classic one, and man, the night it got changed, the colour gave me this really intense headache for like no reason, so bad was the headache I just was like nope, that's it for tonight and signed out but the headache was gone by morning and I never got one ever again from the old skin. I think the change was just so sudden my brain decided it didn't like it. I have no explanation for why that happened. It wasn't anything else, I was fine until the colour changed. I really loved the old skin, the classic one, but I so prefer the one we have now. It's just perfect!

What other memories do y'all have of HNZ?


I'm currently trying to find the first banner I ever made, I know it's somewhere.
If I find it, I'll post it and we can get a good laugh over the terribleness of it
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[Stella Lagowski]

My story is kind of uninteresting I joined because my sister Phoebe convinced me to, who joined because her friend Beth convinced her to. And then me and Beth pretty much became friends because of this site

Unfortunately, I had just turned 12 when I joined (Yeah yeah I know, I shouldn't have been on here ) and my idea of having a conversation was to type 'Lol potatoes' into General Discussion and wonder why nobody wanted to talk to me.

Thankfully, you all forgave me, and 6 years later I'm a tiiny bit more mature than I was back then (She says, with a My Little Pony collection on her desk )

Also, I couldn't find my first ever one, but speaking of banners here's one of my earlier attempts:

Spoiler: Ta-da!

The best part was, you complimented me on it, Emzies. So polite.

 

[Nicolas King]

(Yeah yeah I know, I shouldn't have been on here )

Actually, you joined after we converted to ZetaBoards and, with that, were able to allow people under 13 to be on the board without COPPA as long as we ensured they didn't share personal information.

 

[Stella Lagowski]

(Yeah yeah I know, I shouldn't have been on here )

Actually, you joined after we converted to ZetaBoards and, with that, were able to allow people under 13 to be on the board without COPPA as long as we ensured they didn't share personal information.

Ohh! I wondered why I never got told off. I was sure you knew I was under 13

 

[Cyndi Kingsley]

Does anyone have their first doll? Does anyone remember the dolls? For those who don't, prior to using PB pictures in the yearbook, we used to have to go to some website and make a doll image of our character for the yearbook. When I'm on my laptop, I'll post mine.

Emzies: I still use the classic theme. On occasion, I'll switch to the default one but the classic is easier on the eyes to me. I hated it when we switched from the white one though.

I used to be very fond of the Christmas theme that used to be used during the holidays. There was one, right? I have such a bad memory. :

 

[Patricia Styx]

Oh boy, 2008 was a long time ago. Like a few others I remember seeing one of Alicia's old posts but I'm pretty sure it was on bebo (who remembers that? ) and I joined that night having never RPed before or knowing what RPing even was. I joined as HPLover1991 - or something to that effect *cringeeeeee* Once I realised how things went down on the board that quickly changed and I changed it to my own name. From there on it's really just history, I don't think I started RPing right away but I remember it being very close to sorting because I was in the unsorted section a lot with one of those RPs where everyone seems to fit into one carriage on the Hogwarts Express

I remember a lot of things, like moving over to Zetaboards, the skin changes a load of other things that I can't even think about right now But I do remember the dolls and I don't think this is my first one but the is definitely one of younger Pat - http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/Patricia_1991/doll.gif - I used to looove the dolls and made soo many

I actually remember the graphics being something that I absolutely loved when I joined the site and thought how cool it was that people could do stuff like that. My first Pat banner that I made myself was done on paint and I had Nick tortured because it was waay too big and he fixed it for me And then that made me downlod GIMP and start to make my own banners and I upgraded from paint.

 

[Stefan Archer]

I've found this theme easier on the eyes than the classic theme. I don't know why, must just be that shade of yellow. Switching from the white to the classic theme was hard, just initially, it was such a huge change. The Christmas theme was pretty awesome too, though wasn't it really difficult to load? Like took forever? At least that's how I remember it being.

I lost most of the dolls I made when my computer got wiped, I've tried to find some but they are all gone. Sad times, I had dozens of them. Despite my known dislike of them now, I really enjoyed them back when they were in use.

I started making graphics on Corel Paintshop, I'd tried to use gimp and just spectacularly failed to make anything, then I moved on to a free trial of corel which resembled Photoshop a lot and used that until I got my laptop and then switched to adobe Photoshop.
This is the earliest banner I have on my photobucket account, and I'm sure my oldest banner is somewhere on here, I just need to find it.
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Spoiler: its so bad please no judging

 

[Samual Kaster]

It took me ages to switch from Classic to the default theme, because everything had changed, and I had just come from a little absence, and suddenly there was a new theme and everything. It'd really freaked me out and confused me, and I was totally lost again.
Like Pat, my first banner was made on paint, and it took me forever to do. I don't think I still have it, but it was awful. Emzies' banner above is three-thousand times better than my one was.
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[Jakobe Vittori]

i actually think I still have your first ever banner somewhere Tenile
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[Cyndi Kingsley]

Spoiler: its so bad please no judging

That banner is hideous.

 

[Hadan Winters]

I don't even have access to my oldest banners. I know I never liked the doll thing, so I never used it....
But I remember doing the banner on paint, and it was a brick wall, with Winona Ryder as Hadan. And a border you can get on photobucket editing back in the day. Then I used some other program on my computer, then gimp, then photoshop.
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[Ai Nightray]

Well, let's see.. Took me long enough to post here.

Well, I actually first joined the site back in 2010 using my real name, but since I was just starting high school then, I easily got overwhelmed and left the site a week after I joined, leaving my account to my cousin, who also eventually left.. Almost two years later on February 2012, I was bored out of my mind since the whole day in school would be nothing but Math and that had been going on for more than a month, so I was browsing through the internet to look for places that I could write since it's been a long time since I just wrote for leisure, then I remembered this site.. My former account was already around 5th-7th year by that time so I decided to just sign-up with a new character, Ai (and Conan the same day or the day after?)..
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And considering that time frame, the memorable moments for me would have probably been RHI issues and the Love Pentagon plot (to which Tenile invested a lot of time and effort in with PMing people) and I think Mia made a diagram for that.. And there's also the week that me, Teigan, Tenilee and Raze got 3-5 hours of sleep a day because of all the plotting we did that messed up our characters' lives..
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