Jeff is the webmaster of HPANA who works very hard on almost every aspect of the site alone. The Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator (HPANA) is like no other site, with special feeds (which I'm not going to try to explain) which extract the main Harry Potter news from the biggest sites, convert it, it's edited and then it gets placed on the main page for the fan's viewing pleasures.

Until a small while ago it was completely automatic where it would, almost like copy and paste, be put straight onto the main page but now with a dedicated staff of news editors the news goes through a strict procedure to ensure the news is the best making the site even more enjoyable. Also, in the eyes of further advancement HPANA is beginning to develop from the plain media use to a massive interactive site with features for all fans including a new chat, tip-top comment system, fanart and much more coming soon. You can see this site is growing even more although it's already one of the largest across the world.

We held a small interview with Jeff and this is what he said:

1. Where did HPANA's idea come from?
I became hooked on Potter between the Goblet of Fire frenzy and the Sorcerer's Stone movie. The hype for book 4 was about the first time Harry ever registered on my radar, and I thought it was a passing fad like Tickle Me Elmo. After borrowing the first book from my sister -- who simply said it was "good" -- I was sucked in by the first paragraph and never looked back. I ran a Rowling marathon, buying each book in succession when I was done with the previous. I felt like a bottle about to burst by the end of book 4, and turned to the Internet to fulfill my need for something, anything, all things Harry Potter.

I found a number of great sites -- chiefly The Leaky Cauldron, MuggleNet, TheSnitch.co.uk and iharrypotter -- that appeared to be the "established players" and had daily updates, posting news when anybody in the world even whispered the word Hogwarts.

But it wasn't enough. I had to know when something happened, even if I was busy doing something else. I wanted the news to come to me, instead of spending countless hours seeking it out all over the Web. That's when I had the idea for the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator.

2. How has HPANA developed throughout it's time online?
It dawned on me as I was creating the site that other people might find such a service as helpful as I thought it would be. By that time, I was already hosting the site (at the time, one page) at http://www.kazoomis.com/hpnews/, my Web development company. I sent out a few e-mails, and as word got out -- slowly -- my assumption proved correct. People wanted it!

HPANA officially went online Oct. 15, 2002. By December, I was seeing hundreds of visitors a day. Sometime in the following spring, it broke 1,000. And on June 21, 2003, the site saw 10,000 visitors, thanks in part to becoming the sole Harry Potter-focused news provider for Google News. We now have a readership of over 100,000 per month, generating over 250,000 pageviews and 1 million hits.

I'm a Web and database developer by profession, so my focus has always been on usefulness (which is probably apparent by the modest and limited graphical design of the site). HPANA has undergone a few minor and one major transformation: It's no longer totally automatic.

We're semi-automatic now (the operative word being "we"), since the site has recently gained a very talented, highly qualified staff. Before, HPANA's automated scripts would visit different Harry Potter sites and sources on the Internet, and spit everything out with no discretion. While that was great for quantity and timeliness, it was often a painful hit on quality and editorial standards. I wanted to take more responsibility for what was published, and decided we would stop posting news automatically.

This created a huge logistical problem: I had to do everything! I no longer had time to actually develop the site, I was too busy posting news. I had also recently introduced the ability for our readers to respond to news by leaving their thoughts and comments, so I was busy policing there as well. Long story short, some friendly and dedicated people stepped up and offered to help manage the "content" part of the site, freeing me to work on my true love again: programming.

3. Do you find your site to be pleasure or a chore?
I've thought about this quite a bit, and my answer always seems to rely on two facts: I love Harry Potter, and I love programming. I've been creating Web sites since I was 14 (back in 1994, before there was such a thing as Netscape and Microsoft thought of the Internet: "this too shall pass"). My passion has evolved into creating useful ways to deal with information.

Since there is such a huge number of Harry Potter fans, and many high-quality but very separate Harry Potter sites on the Web, I saw a chore: organize everything into one simple gateway for Harry Potter news. That chore in itself became a source of pleasure. It's like the feeling you get after cleaning your room, or your desk, or your car. It's a mighty task, but look at what you accomplished in the end, for all your hard work.

4. What are your future plans for the site?
To become a community where people who crave the latest Harry Potter info can come and feel at home. We've started that with our news comments system, and plan to introduce lots more opportunities to interact.

I also plan to reintroduce an unfiltered news feed, in essence providing the original version of HPANA once again. We are going to continue to seek out and add new sources to our news-gathering engine. There will also be tools for webmasters to integrate parts of HPANA into their own sites, to guarantee they have the very latest to offer their visitors.

5. What was your opinion of Book 5?
Order of the Phoenix is mostly a commentary on the corruption of power, and similarly, the power of corruption. The Ministry of Magic, helmed by Cornelius Fudge, is afraid of the truth, in fact refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned. What's more, Fudge believes humble Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore wants his job, and is blinded by the power he wields as political head honcho of the wizarding world.

Stephen King has described "high inquisitor" Dolores Umbridge as the best villian since Hannibal Lector, and I have to agree. You want to grind your teeth (at worse, punch something) when she's torturing Harry, trying to break him, and controlling the rest of the school with her Educational Decrees. It was chillingly reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, both of which portray the evil and corruption inherent in trusting too much power to too few people.

I think JK Rowling also made a point of showing 15-year-old Harry that everyone has flaws, including his own father. He's at the age when you begin doubting the world around you, seeing faults for the perhaps first time. Disney World isn't quite as magical, more responsibility gives way to more accountability.

In all, I think my favorite remains Prisoner of Azkaban, book 5 being a close second. (Then it goes Goblet, Chamber, and Sorcerer's Stone.)

6. Do you have any theories or ideas about book 6?
Nope. I pride myself in having crazy and unpopular theories that might get me in trouble. :)

7. What is it you look for in a Harry Potter site?
Being an analytical person, the first thing that strikes me is the overall design of the site. Then I start reading the first text that pops out at me and immediately notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Sure, they're going to happen, but it's the mark of a great site and a dedicated webmaster behind it when they're kept to a minimum. I also note the focus of the site: Is it about news? Is it mainly about the movies? The books? Is there intelligent and mature conversation?

8. What tips as a webmaster would you have for your fans if they wanted to make a site? It's all about content. Why would anyone want to visit your site? It's either because you, yourself, are incredibly interesting, or the stuff you put on the site is. How are people going to find you? Politely e-mail other webmasters and introduce yourself, see if they can plug your site to let people know it exists. Post (with permission or in context) on messageboards *that you frequent*. Make sure all your HTML pages have proper title tags and descriptions, so search engines will pick them up.

A huge thanks to Jeff for those very detailed answers. From the pure detail of those answers we can see the extent of HPANA's workmanship. Wizard-City was very pleased when HPANA said they'd love to be in the spotlight although usually the favour would be the other way around. This site has a large impact on Wizard-City especially to me (Carl) as a newsposter. They're a wonderful site with sacks full of potential to go even further up the website ladder.

It's amazing. What more could I possibly say for this site. Jeff is a great webmaster who's nice to talk to (when you recieve an e-mail) and obviously has huge skills in highly developed areas of computer and internet. Though the site's layout and graphics may not dazzle you when you enter their efficiency and features certainly do. They draw news from the best, have a great, and new, staff team who work hard to look after the comments and news to ensure HPANA brings the best and stays family friendly. You couldn't ask for much more in a site but, unsurprisngly people are asking for more and it's being given to them which is yet another great quality in a website.

As with our first site spotlight I have produced a small review of HPANA using all I know and see:

First impression » 4/5 The main page offers many things and the news is just endless but it seems a little too crammed and unorganised at times.

Creative name? » 4/5 The name HPANA means nothing but that abbreviation means something that automatically draws you in.

Loading time » 5/5 The loading time is very fast and you're not disappointed either.

Navigation » 3/5 There isn't really much of a navigation there. Links are all over the place which is a bit confusing.

Content » 19/20 You couldn't really call it content but HPANA's features are nothing short of extensive, creative and very well made and structured.

Creativity/originality » 15/15 It's features and purpose along with the applications it uses are very unique.

Errors » 10/10 Not once have I seen a broken link or spelling error.

Overall appearance » 20/20 Absolutely stunning. Endless things to do, a great library of information and news with many fans signed up with their new common room.