It all started back in April, 2005. The beginnings of a fansite named Mystique were emerging from the depths, and along with it, a newbie webmaster, by the name of Kaetlyn. Her oddly funny updates and quirky content drove the visitors soaring. This was also a big time in the Potter fandom, where Emma was playing the brainiac, Hermione Granger. Media, pictures and video clips surged onto the ‘Net, and the biggest Emma Watson sites had closed, leaving visitors to find other sources of Emma goodness. Mystique provided them with all the news, pictures and media they desired until the biggest Emma site ever, opened up again (oh noes!).
By this time, Kaetlyn had already met-up with her friend, Lynn, over her Livejournal. The two bonded and soon, the thought of owning an Emma site overtook Lynn. She talked it over with her friends, and asked Kaetlyn if she wouldn’t mind.
“Psh,” Kaetlyn said, raising her eyebrow (although Lynn couldn’t see it because she was in Norway and Kaetlyn in Australia), “whatever.”
And thus, Emma Love was born. They were such good webmaster buddies that they were affiliated with each other since the very first day. And then something even more awesome happened. Emma Love was granted a domain! And tra la la, there they were, Emma Watson fansite domain buddies! Next in the equation was the very first Emma Watson site on fan-sites.org, owned by the awesomely fantastic Karly. Emma Online was born! Hurrah! Everyone studied it critically. It had potential. And soon, all three sites were top affiliated with each other and they all had their own distinct Emma domains, styles and all that jazz (oh and they were all Livejournal buddies. Awesome, huh?)
Then, in late 2006, Kaetlyn was approached by a fangirl, by the name of Allison, and she got her confused with another Ally who visited Mystique (gosh, Kaetlyn’s a bit of a nutjob, aint she?). And they talked. And talked. And talked. And all this fun was had. Then, Allison gave the news (on her Livejournal of course!) that she had been given ownership of an Emma domain and intended to make a fansite! She was a bit uncertain at first and even asked her Livejournal friends (Lynn, Karly and Kaetlyn) if that was alright.
“Psh,” they all said in unision (meh, who knows? It could’ve happened!), raising their eyebrow, “whatever. You go girl!” Allison gushed, cause we all know she did on the inside.
And so she did did. And after a little while, EmmaFans.net came to life! Woo! And then nothing interesting happened until 2007! In a really big, long, excruciatingly detailed email to her three buddies, Allison came up with a marvellous idea! Why don’t we join forces and make the biggest (and bestest, lyk whoa! MWAHAHAHAHA.) Emma fansite ever? After a day they had all agreed, and the idea of a soon to be named Emma fansite was in the works. I♥Watson.net was one of the first names they came up with. Sections were assigned, content was merged, headaches were had, arguments insued and soon, there they were! I♥Watson.net, the most awesome and funnest Emma site there was, with four culturally and graphically diverse webmisses (they were all girls! Woo!), with one dream – to own the best Emma Watson fansite there is!
On January 2013, Kaetlyn, Lynn, Karly, Allison decided to close IHeartWatson. The main page was hid from the visitors and an emotional note was left instead, in which they explained they no longer had the required time to take care of the site as they had up to that point. Kaetlyn announced she’d be keeping the domain, just in case they ever decided to bring the site back as a “lite version” or an archive. A few months later, however, the domain was handed to Siobhan, who reopened the site with brand new content, and without its previous pages. She didn’t keep it for very long, and in early 2014 the domain was given to Bea, who rebuilt the site from scratch – the previous photo gallery, the pages and all the original content were gone, but the fans had a brand new source!
In late 2016, Celyn decided to let go of the site, and Sara and Neide became its new owners, with Gabby joining them a few months later. Yay for the 2nd round of culturally and graphically diverse webmisses! Funnily enough, Gabby’s very first fansite was built on EmmaFans.net, Allison’s pre-IHW domain, on July 2012 (But they didn’t know each other! Destiny?). Not much was done on IHW until 2017, when Emma started promoting two films that were set to be big blockbusters. Covering those busy press tours finally got the girls back in shape, and the updates started to flow once again. On July 2017, Sara decided to leave the team, and handed the site to her partners in crime. That’s when Gabby and Neide realized I♥Watson.net needed an old fashioned revamp, and started going through all that was left from its early days so that they could bring that beloved original style back. Thanks to a lot of digging, several pages created by the Original Four were revived, as well as some awesome graphics and cute descriptions.
The site opened on the 15th of January 2007, and, through stumbles and falls, has been open since.