Diane Duane will be our guest host for today's Spotlight Community Chat, from 1pm-2pm PDT.

Here are her answers to our Groupee Spotlight questions:

What is the focus of your community?

Mostly the "Young Wizards" novels that I've been writing for about twenty years now. The books have seen a considerable increase in their public profile and upswing in their popularity since the Harry Potter books started coming out...though it has to be said that that upswing had already started in the years immediately preceding the first HP book's release, when the YW novels were brought back into print by their present publisher, Harcourt, and we went onto the new one-per-year publication schedule.

When did your community first come to be and when did you add Groupee (same time?)

At the same time: May of 2002. Groupee handles our hosting, since we went straight to eve.

How has growth been (spurts, a lot at the beginning, more now than ever, etc...)?

It was slow at first: it must have taken us two or three months for there to be more than a hundred members. But shortly thereafter, when the URL of the website started appearing on the paperback editions of the books, growth started to speed up. We've now got about eighteen hundred members: over this last six months, in particular, growth has sped up considerably, with something like three to five new members per day.

What are some memorable community moments?

I'm not sure we have any, as such.

Who are your key players (do you have moderators and how were they picked)?

We presently have two moderators -- one who works for Qualcomm in San Diego, one who's a retired fan in England. They simply started showing up and displaying such wisdom and tact in dealing with their fellow forum members that their appointment as mods seemed a foregone conclusion. Additionally, my senior forum administrator is an old friend who lives in England: she volunteered for the job at the very beginning.

What are some obstacles you (as an administrator) have faced with regards to your community?

Mostly time issues. I have a lot going on around here -- anyone who looks at the list of various websites and online endeavors associated with DianeDuane.com will be able to see that -- and I'm never able to spend as much time keeping an eye on the Forums as I'd like. Particularly I'm sensitive to their nature as a meeting place for young readers, and I like to make sure that they're enjoying themselves and are safe (I monitor our chat transcripts very closely).

What are some obstacles you think your members have faced?

Finding the Forums, mostly. Other than that, they seem to have a good time, and by and large are a very well-behaved lot. (With them in mind, I have an LJ icon that says, "Most of my fandom is sane. How the heck did THAT happen?")

What are some milestones of your community (reaching 100 members, first chat, etc...)

The "First Hundred" milestone was special enough to me that I designed an avatar for it, and some of our oldest members still wear it with pride. I'd say the 2000 mark will be another one, as will be next year's 5-year anniversary.

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For more information on Diane Duane and the Young Wizards universe, check out http://youngwizards.net/