We apologize for the downtime this week.  Nargles hijacked our database.  Everything seems to be fine now, but if you are having any technical difficulties, please email The Captains.

Extensions

• May's I Touch Myself challenge has been extended through Sunday, June 4 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
• This poll is extended through Sunday, June 4 at 11:59 p.m. EDT

Monday, Monday

• June's Featured Story poll will be posted right here
• June's challenge will be announced

Grand Opening

• Our Quidditch Trading Cards opened on June 1.  This is our art site.  June's Featured Artist is leelastarsky.  Please hop over and take a look!  You have to register to see all the artwork.

Birthdays

• Happy birthday on Friday to our very own Captain of smut, madam_minnie!

Podcasting:

• We have chosen a name for our podcast.   We'd like to proudly announce Quaffle Talk:  Episode 1, Attack of the Fan Girls should be completed by the end of June.
• The Featured Story for the Episode 1 will be Perfection by Cariad.
• Our first guest reader will be none other than the wonderful and brilliant leelastarsky!
• We need your emails!  Send us an email – silly, sad, questions...anything that we can use for our member email portion of Quaffle Talk!  Email The Captains.  You don't even have to give us your real name!

Art Gallery:

• Mark your calendars!  On June 1, we will be unveiling a new feature at The Quidditch Pitch!   We have established an art gallery and we will be announcing our featured artist for the month of June on Thursday.
• In coming months, you, the readers and writers of The Quidditch Pitch, will be voting to determine the featured artists!

Challenges:

• The I Touch Myself Challenge ends May 31.  We'd really like to see a few more entries, so get your quills to writing!
• The Death/I'm Not Quite Dead Yet/Undead Challenge we're cohosting with flamingnargle also closes May 31.  If the "I Touch Myself" challenge isn't your cup of tea, why not try this one on for size?
• Song Ficathon that we're hosting with __hp_love still has claims left.  This one isn't due until the end of July, so why not take a swing at it?

Editor's Choice:
We have come up with a new way to do our Editor's Choice picks from June forward:

• One story will be chosen each month
• One Captain will make the selection
• A more extensive interview will be done with the selected author
• The schedule will be as follows:
  • June:  madam_minnie because it's her birthday.
  • July:  dream_wia_dream because she said so.
  • August:  kerryblaze because she agreed.
  • September:  simons_flower because it's her birthday.
  • October:  tqpannie aka Annie because it's her birthday.

Beta Readers:
The Quidditch Pitch is in need of a few good beta readers or Quidditch Assistants.  If you're interested in applying, please fill out the application and email it to The Captains.

New Skins:
We have three new skins to choose from:

• Annie-Graduation – A Harry/Ron skin that is a celebration for Annie's graduation.
• Seeker – A Harry playing Quidditch theme.
• Safari – A Pitch theme.  (This name will be changed later to something more Quidditch-like.)

Revised Categories:
We have simplified the categories in an effort to make things clearier for our writers and readers.  If you have any questions/concerns/ideas, feel free to email The Captains.

FLAMES
There have been reviews left for some stories lately that ranger from not constructive to downright negative.  Per our Terms of Service, flames are not allowed.  Additionally, several authors do not have English as their native tongue, and chiding them for such is impolite.  There are clear warnings on all stories.  If you don't like the pairing or the subject matter, don't read.

Featured Stories for June:
Voting will commence on Thursday, June 1, and end on Monday, June 5, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Happy Birthday!

• Happy Birthday to rondastarr on June 1st.
• Happy Birthday to tori_siikanen on June 2nd.

We are running a Logo Contest for The Quidditch Pitch.  Read all the details here and we look forward to seeing your creativity.  Contest runs until July 1.

Podcasting tryouts.  Visit here for information and links.  The correct email is podcasts@thequidditchpitch.org.

Podcasting poll.  Which story should we read?

New banners.  Take a look.

Another busy week!  Our member list is now nearly at 2000 people.  The Captains are shocked but very much appreciate the support.  We hope to continue bringing the best we can to you and we hope you continue to help us do so.

The winners for our Featured Story vote off were announced, as well as a special award presented to our Quidditch Mistress dream_wia_dream.

Our web portal site, The Pitch, is now online.  You'll hear news first (or maybe second behind this LJ) there.  All userinfo was transferred over as of May 8, so if you were registered at the story site by then, you will be able to log in with your current username and password at The Pitch.

We are running a Logo Contest for The Quidditch Pitch.  Read all the details here and we look forward to seeing your creativity.

We will be having polls regarding our first podcast soon.  Be on the lookout.

First and foremost, thank you all for being so patient last week!  We have now moved to our new host and anticipate smooth sailing from here on out.  (Or, at the very least, 24-hour customer service.)  Despite site problems, we've added nearly 200 members in two weeks!  Welcome to everyone.

New staff members

• Quidditch Assistants:  brumeux77, blackmoonruby, swimchick and debate_geek.  We are still hiring for Quidditch Assistants.  If you're interested, please fill out the application and email it to The Captains.
• Quidditch Coordinators:  cedar, sesptwd, Hysterical Hystorian and RedBlaze!

Challenges

• Congratulations to our April Fool's Day challenge winner, tqpannie for her story Messers Romance.
• Monthly Challenge #1:  in cooperation with flamingnargle, The Death/I'm Not Quite Dead Yet/Undead Challenge, due May 31.
• Monthly Challenge #2:  I Touch Myself, due May 31.  To make use of National Masturbation Month and all.  *looks around shiftily*
• Monthly Challenge #3:  in cooperation with __hp_love and quills_inkstain, the Summer Lyric/Quote Fic/Art-athon, due July 31.

Editor's Choice

• The interviews with our April Editor's Choice authors are up:  inell, mapleandmahogany, cluegirl, sheepybunbuns and oh_honestleigh.
• Our Editor's Choice picks for May have been announced:  Fling Wide the Whirlwind by Thevina, Gambit by harmony_bites, Fall So Softly by Rynne, and Soap by shocolate.

Featured Stories for May were announced.  There was a tie in two categories and a poll is posted for a tie-breaker.  Go vote!

Our final Captain's interview is posted, this one with kerryblaze.

Happy birthday in the coming week to thysanotus.  We hope it's merry!