Petition System (Support Tickets)

Submit support requests to the staff. Report bugs, request help, appeal bans, or get technical assistance. Open to anyone, signed in or not, at up to 2 petitions an hour and 5 a day.

What Is the Petition System?

The Petition System is HogwartsLive's official support ticket system - your direct line to the staff when you need help, want to report a bug, appeal a moderation action, or request assistance with account issues. Think of it as sending an owl to the Ministry of Magic, except instead of bureaucratic inefficiency, you get actual staff responses (eventually). It's the formal, tracked way to communicate with staff about problems too complex for in-game chat or too sensitive for public discussion.

Petitions are submitted through a web form that captures your character name, email, problem description, and detailed technical information (current page, session data, etc.) to help staff diagnose issues. The system allows at most 2 petitions an hour and 5 a day from the same network or browser, runs a small security check to keep bots out, and notifies the staff by email. Importantly: petitions are for bugs, technical problems, and administrative requests - NOT for gameplay questions. Read the FAQ first, or your petition will be ignored.

When to Use Petitions

Appropriate Uses:

Technical Issues:

Bug Reports: Game not working as intended, error messages, broken features
Account Problems: Can't log in, password reset, email change requests
Payment Issues: Donator points not received, transaction problems (include transaction ID!)
Data Corruption: Character stats incorrect, missing items, errors that look like the game lost its place
Technical Blocks: Can't get off the bad nav screen, white pages, weird blocking errors, etc.

Administrative Requests:

Appeal Moderation: Challenge mutes, bans, or bio blocks
Harassment Reports: Report rule violations, abusive behavior
Feature Requests: Suggest improvements (though no guarantee of implementation)
Permission Issues: Request access to locked content, special permissions

Special Circumstances:

Stuck States: Character trapped, infinite loops, broken navigation
Exploits: Report security vulnerabilities (responsibly!)
Lost Items: Items disappeared due to bug (not normal gameplay loss)
Server Issues: Widespread problems affecting multiple players

When NOT to Use Petitions

Inappropriate Uses (Will Be Ignored):

Gameplay Questions:

"How do I.?": Use the Player's Guide FAQ instead
"Where is.?": Check the guide or ask in commentary
"What does. do?": Game mechanics questions belong in FAQ/guide
"How does combat work?": Read the Combat guide
Strategy Questions: Ask other players, not staff

Normal Gameplay Results:

"I died and lost gold": Working as intended
"Someone attacked me": PvP is part of the game
"I can't afford.": Earn more gold
"This is too hard": Git gud (staff won't nerf content for you)

Known Issues:

Check the Blog First: If it's already announced, your petition wastes time
Read Recent News: Server issues often posted publicly
Search FAQ: Common problems documented

Contact From Inside the Game

The Contact Dropdown:

Where: Contact in the header, next to Owl Post and Alerts. It opens in place. No window appears, and your page stays exactly where you left it
New petition: Always the first row. It opens the petition card in the bottom-right corner, beside the quill
Your petitions: Your five newest, newest first, each with a chip. Answered means staff replied (by Owl Post or email, whichever you gave them). Open means it is with staff. Closed means it is resolved, or was only ever informational
Open one: Click a petition and it unfolds in place to show what you wrote. Once it is answered it also names who answered and shows the first part of their reply. The whole answer is in your Owl Post, and in your email if you gave one
Only yours: Nobody else's petitions appear here, and neither do the ones filed without an account. Staff notes on your petition stay with staff
See all petitions: At the foot. It opens the petition page, where your last twenty wait under the form and open the same way. The paperwork has been reduced to a list, which is the Ministry's idea of progress
On a phone: Contact stays under the menu button and goes straight to the full petition page. The bottom bar keeps its five tabs

The Petition Card:

One select, four topics: Pick what the petition is about. The topic routes you to the help most likely to be useful, and it is saved with your petition so staff see it too. It never decides whether you may write to them
Send to staff is always there: It sits under every topic and is never greyed out. Nothing on the card is a quiz, a riddle or a wait. Help is offered beside the form and never in place of it
Another player is bothering me: Type their student name, press Ignore this student, and they disappear for you everywhere: chat, forum, mentions, friend requests and owls. They are not told. Staff cannot be ignored, and the card says so plainly. Ignoring does not file anything and does not close the card, so you can still tell staff about it
I did not get my donator points: A Transaction ID field appears. It lets staff find the payment straight away. If you cannot find it, send the petition anyway and say so
How does something work: As you type, up to three Player's Guide pages that match your words appear above the box, scored by the same search the guide uses. They open in a new tab, so the half-written petition waits where you left it
A bug, or lost progress: No suggestions. Tell staff what you were doing, what you expected and what happened instead, and press Send
One at a time: A second click on New petition brings back the card you already have. Minimizing it keeps what you typed, and closing a card with text in it asks first
Same rules as the page: The card hands your petition to the same form handler as the full page. The security check, the 2 an hour and 5 a day limits and the way answers arrive are exactly as described elsewhere on this page. If a limit stops you, the card says so and keeps your words
Signed out: There is no dock until you sign in, so use the full form. It asks for an email address, because staff have nowhere else to send the answer

How to Submit a Petition

Petition Form:

Accessing the Form:

Direct link: the Contact link in the header, which opens a small dropdown (see below). On a phone it sits under the menu button and opens the full petition page
The Full Form: petition.php is still there, as an ordinary page, for anyone the dropdown cannot reach: phones, signed-out visitors, and browsers that have given up on scripts
Signed In or Not: Anyone can file a petition. If you are signed in, staff see your account alongside it
Not Signed In: The form asks for your email address, because without an account there is no owl for the staff to send back. A petition with no address is not sent. This is the form to use if you cannot sign in at all
Security Check: A small Cloudflare check sits above the Submit button. Most people never notice it. If it cannot confirm you are a person, the petition is not sent and the page says so, along with a link to the Discord

Form Fields:

Character Name: Auto-filled with your display name when signed in; optional when you are not
Email Address: Auto-filled from your account when signed in; required when you are not
Description of Problem: Textarea (55 cols x 7 rows) for your detailed explanation
Submit Button: Click to send petition

Pre-Submission Warnings:

Read the Blog: "Before sending a petition, please make sure you have read the Hogwarts Live Blog"
Check the FAQ: "and the Player's Guide FAQ"
Known Issues: "Petitions about problems we already know about just take up time we could be using to fix those problems."
Gameplay Questions: "Gameplay questions will be ignored so also be sure to read the FAQ."
Donator Points: "If you are petitioning concerning donator points, please be sure to include your transaction ID number to ensure a quicker resolution."

Writing Your Petition:

Be Descriptive: "Please be as descriptive as possible in your petition."
Include Steps: How to reproduce the bug (if applicable)
Error Messages: Quote exact error text
Transaction IDs: For payment issues, mandatory!
Screenshots: Can't attach, but describe what you see
Timestamps: When did it happen?
Relevant Details: What were you doing when problem occurred?

Rate Limiting

Abuse Prevention:

2 Petitions an Hour, 5 a Day:

Hourly Limit: At most 2 petitions in any rolling hour
Daily Limit: At most 5 petitions in any rolling 24 hours
Network Tracking: On an ordinary (IPv4) connection your whole local network counts as one petitioner, e.g. everything at "192.168.1.*". On an IPv6 connection it is your exact address
Cookie Tracking: Also tracked by a cookie in your browser, when there is one
Either Trigger: A network OR cookie match counts toward both limits
Hourly Message: "X petitions have already been filed from your network in the last hour. Please wait an hour before sending another."
Daily Message: "X petitions have already been filed from your network in the last day, which is the most we take in 24 hours." When both limits are hit, you get this one, since waiting an hour would not help

Consolidate Issues:

Multiple Problems: Combine related issues into one petition
Suggestion: "If you have several things to tell the staff, one petition that covers them all is the fastest way to get an answer."
Numbered Lists: Use "1. Issue A, 2. Issue B, 3. Issue C" format
Separate Critical: If one issue is urgent, submit separately

Bypass for Staff:

Staff Exempt: Staff are not held to the limit
Regular Players: No bypass. Everyone gets the same 2 an hour and 5 a day

What Happens After Submission

Confirmation Message:

Success: "Your petition has been sent to the server admin."
Patience: "Please be patient, most server admins have jobs and obligations beyond their game, so sometimes responses will take a while to be received."
No Tracking: You don't get a ticket number or status page
Response Method: If you were signed in when you filed, staff answer in your Owl Post and nowhere else: no email goes to the address on your account. If you were not signed in, you get one email at the address you typed, from the game's own address ([email protected]), the same one that sends your password reset. A staff member does not write from a personal inbox, so the reply will not look like it came from a person with a name and a hobby
Lost In Transit: Check Spam, Junk and Promotions before concluding that nobody wrote back. Mail from an address you have never heard from has a habit of being filed under "probably a prince". If nothing has turned up after a few days, ask on the Hogwarts Live Discord, which is slower to lose things
Answered: When staff reply, the petition is marked Answered on their side, but only if the answer actually went out, by Owl Post or by email. A reply that went nowhere leaves the petition open, so it is not quietly filed as done. You still get no status page to look at

Abuse Reporting

Special Abuse Flag:

abuse Parameter:

Pre-Filled: "problem" parameter pre-fills description field
Hidden Field: Original problem text stored in hidden 'abuse' field
Display: Shows original text in
```
 block below textarea
```
Purpose: Report inappropriate content with context preserved
Use Case: Report offensive bios, commentary, mail
Length Cap: A very long owl has its quoted text cut short so the link stays short enough to open. The owl's message ID is always kept at the top of the quote, so staff can pull up the full message.

How It Works:

User Adds Context: Can add explanation above the quoted text
Original Preserved: Ensures offensive content not lost/altered
Staff View: Staff see both user's description and original problematic text

Strategy & Tips

Petition Best Practices

Read FAQ First: 90% of questions already answered - save everyone time
Check Blog: Known issues posted publicly before petition avalanche
Be Descriptive: "It's broken" is useless - explain WHAT, WHEN, HOW
Include Transaction IDs: Donator issues without IDs can't be resolved
Consolidate Issues: With 2 an hour and 5 a day, combine related problems into one petition
Reproduce First: Make sure bug is repeatable before reporting
Error Messages: Quote exact text - "some error" doesn't help
Timestamps: "When did it happen?" needed for log analysis
Steps to Reproduce: "I did X, then Y, then Z broke"
Expected vs Actual: "I expected A, but got B instead"
Not for Gameplay: "How do I level up?" = wasted petition
Response Time: Be patient - staff have lives
No Tracking Number: Can't check status, just wait for response
Watch Your Inbox: The answer comes by email from [email protected], and may land in Spam or Junk. Signed-in petitioners get an Owl Post copy as well
Email Important: A valid address is the whole delivery mechanism, and staff can reply even if you are offline
One Issue Per Petition: Unless closely related, separate petitions clearer
Respect Rate Limit: Don't spam - makes staff ignore you
Appeal Politely: "This ban is bullshit" vs "I believe this was a misunderstanding."

Petition Summary: Open to everyone; if you are not signed in you must give an email address. Form fields: Character Name (auto when signed in, optional otherwise), Email (auto when signed in, required otherwise), Description (textarea 55x7). A Cloudflare security check runs above Submit. Rate limit: 2 petitions an hour and 5 a day per network or browser cookie. Success: "Your petition has been sent to the staff." No tracking number. Staff reply by email from [email protected] (check Spam/Junk), plus an Owl Post copy if you were signed in; the Discord is the fallback if nothing arrives in a few days. Pre-submission warnings: Read blog, check FAQ, gameplay questions ignored, include transaction ID for donator issues. Abuse reporting: the report link pre-fills the form with the quoted content. Staff are exempt from the rate limit. Use for: bugs, account issues, payment problems, appeals, harassment reports. DON'T use for: gameplay questions, normal game results, known issues.

Hogwarts Live Player's Guide