JOURNALS PREMISE: It is well known that the Ministry has tapped floos and is intercepting owls, but the Ministry has been developing new ways to spy on the citizens of Magical Britain. Using the income of taxes, the Ministry has been able to fund a team of the top wizards and witches in the nation to develop several new items for monitoring and intercepting communication, the first of which is a new series of publicly interlinked journals. The magic for these journals seemed to mix the magic of several items, from interlinked magical portraits and magical mirrors to floors and portkeys.
The journals were released in a trial run at Flourish and Blotts over the last six months, sold under a false business called Mathilda's Friend Speak. The journals sold transmitted anything written in a journal to the public network where others with journals could read and reply. Anything written in the journals was available for others to read on the public network - and for the Ministry to read. The Minsitry was surprised with the amount of information they were actually receiving and had already made several arrests because of the journals. While it couldn't pin point the writer and repliers of the entries, it could pinpoint the location of the magic as it was being used and Aurors were able to apparate to the location of the journal's use.
The magic used on the journals is very powerful, and though they probably could be hexed and charmed to be private, it would take a truly powerful wizard or witch to override the journal's intricate magic. Until it is overridden, the journals are always public, whenever written in. This leaves room for people to hack the journals magic as the game progresses. Hacks and overrides must be discussed in the OOC before initiating them in the game.
At this time, all private communication must be done using pre-established forms of canon communication. There are so many things that can be utilised that JKR has already set into play; objects like Sirius's magic mirror, owls, paintings, pensieve memories. This should come as an opportunity to itilise more things and the journals, and not as a form of limitation. We want people to be able to interact in a comfortable and familiar setting, but forcing our characters to seek out more forms of communication will help build plots and heighten the game experience as well. Of course, as always, all things are open for discussion, but for the moment, the mods have decided that this is the best solution to meet everyone in the game's needs - those who want journals, those who are open to either side and those who do not wish their characters to have public journals.
FORMATTING: Anyone who wishes their player to be the owner of Mathilda's Friend Speak Journals must format their entries as follows:
[lj-cut text="Entry to the Friend Speak Network"]TEXT[/lj-cut]
All those wishing their characters to have a plain, private, paper journal should format their entries as follows and disable comments: [lj-cut text="Private Journal Entry"]TEXT[/lj-cut]
This is stricken text, but still a bit readable. This is stricken text that is not readable at all.
USE, FIDELIUS CHARM & MINISTRY LOCATORS: Anyone may purchase a Friend Speak journal. The Ministry locating spells in the journals are much like Muggle cellphones and the monitoring of Underage Magic. The Ministry can only locate someone who is using the journal and until first written in, the journals are not considered activated. When bought, they are registered by the purchaser. There is no limit on the number of journals one witch or wizard can by. Until written in, journals receive information only and cannot transmit the location of the possessor to the Ministry.
Those writing in journals, but staying in a location protected by Fidelius charm, can write in the journals. The Ministry could apparate to the general location of the journal, but could not find the journal or the owner without knowing the location of the place under Fidelius charm.
QUOTAS: One journal entry, public or private, must be made each month for each character. This is the minimum requirement. This quota may also be met by submitting a single character narrative to the community in its stead. Journal entries do not have to be posted to the community, so be sure to check your friends page often. All narratives must be posted to the community.