Gosh, it's been over two years and I don't exactly remember what I was doing. I was searching for LotR-related sites in general with the desire to expand my knowledge of the books I believe, and came across the Downs either by a search engine or a link from another Tolkien site.

Heh! That's right! Although I'm sure most of the other Downers wish that I hadn't. :rolleyes:

I was searching for quizzes while I was in school and i foun Barrow-Downs.Then I had to look through the site and I saw the forum wich had really great topics,users and so on...And here I am now.

For those who remember her, it was all because of Ithaeliel. I had been absolutely obssessed with LOTR for about six months when she told me about this great site with a name generator plus a forum she had just joined ('tis a shame she has ghosted away). I checked the site out a few times, but didn't join until a month later when I was done with school for the year. The rest is history. :rolleyes:

I still find it amazing that I was only 13 when I joined (so young) and 14 when I joined my first RPG. Now I'm 18- a legal adult. :D

Neopets. :p

How on earth did you get here from Neopets!? :confused:

I came across the Barrow-Downs when the moderator of a Lord of the Rings group on MySpace posted a Tolkien fansite list. I wish I knew about it before!

There -was-, I'm not sure it's there anymore, a guild on Neopets dedicated to the Barrowdowns itself. Very cute, however there were just two members (including me) That person messaged me and raved about the site.

Ta-da! I've been haunting the chatroom (and more recently, the forum) for five years now! ...My Neopet is still "dying".

Good luck reaping any benefits until you're about 25. The next few years are nothing more than shorthand for debt accumulation while you try to figure out what sort of career has good potential to pay it off without killing you.

I found the 'Downs stalking my big brother. I'd recently read the Trilogy and possibly seen The Fellowship... can't remember exactly the order. He was being a jerk and wouldn't answer my questions, so I stalked his internet history to www.theonering.net and to here and, quite frankly, I preferred it here.

All I wanted to know was what kind of stone Glorfindel's lil green bridge rock was! That's how addictions start, children. "All I wanted was..." ;)

I found the forum twice, actually.

I remember a friend telling me about a site that named the top five Tolkien-related websites, and the Downs was listed on it. I was just looking for information in general at the time, and I played with the name generator. I was also drawn to the fanfiction. (The fact that there's a genre heading entitled "Legolas" still scares me...)

I wasn't big into forums (I'm still not) but eventually curiosity and boredom got the better of me and I clicked the link to check it out. One thing led to another, and soon I was involved in the Books forum, then I RP'd for a little while. Sadly, I had to leave after only a short time to deal with RL issues.

I found it the second time some about a year later when someone suggested I Google my name for fun. Turns out I don't actually exist. So, I Googled Roa_Aoife, which is the screenname I use everywhere. I found a link to the Memorial of Members thread, and I found out people actually missed me here. So I decided to make everyone's life more joyous and return.

Funny how forgetful I am -- I know the above is why I checked out the main page, with the name generator and other goodies, but I don't remember how I made the leap to the forum. I'd never posted on a forum or any other kind of internet group before, so I must have had some special reason to think "Hey, this is the very first internet community I want to become a part of!" I assume I was really bored one day and decided to check out the one part of the site I hadn't been to, and read something and wanted to respond, but I can't actually remember it.

Premature senility.

Jeez...I can't remember how I found out about this board...

Wait! It's coming back to me!

[LONG, DRAWN OUT STORY]

Back when I still had money and spare time, I was a big GameBoy Freak. I bought the FotR Game (the one from Black Label; Man, that game was horrible.) and I needed a bunch of help on it. (I didn't say I was a good GameBoy Freak.)

I found another message board that dealt with the game, and eventually I stumbled on The BD. This was a couple of years ago; the first movie still hadn't come out yet. I kept reading the boards (I still hadn't registered) until just after RotK came out, then I became a bit too busy. I don't think I even had time to look at a computer, let alone post on a message board.

Now, a couple of weeks ago, I was reading another board I like, and someone linked to a thread here. Something clicked. "Hey...this place seems familiar..."

So, I bit the bullet and registered (yesterday).

[/LONG DRAWN OUT STORY]

And yes, I know I'm using fake codes to add to my post. Just one more rung on the Ladder of Geekdom.

I was shown this site by a person who was banned from the forums 2-3 years ago... :rolleyes: :p

I seem to recall that a good friend of mine was once a member of the Downs. She has since forgotten her username and all that and gave up on it, but she told me about it and I checked it out.

After messing around with hangahobbit and the name generator for a while, I found the forum and said, "ooohhh!"

So, that's the fascinating story of how I came to the Downs. Next week: How :smokin: got his cigar.

I believe I joined right after I read the trilogy and possily after I watched the third movie. I just googled for LotRs websites and this one looked fun. I read some of the fanfiction that used to be on the front page, played around with hanghobbit, then noticed the forums. I joined under Wilwarin Bluemoon, then forgot my password, couldn't get it back and joined again under this name. :p Now I have the 'Downs as my home page, so it's the first thing I see when I get onto the internet, and I just go right to the forums, rairly do anything else on the main page. ;)

Same here... except the forum is my homepage. :D

I found the Downs from some other people at school who were fooling around in computer class and found the quizzes. I kept coming back mostly because of the fanfiction, and also sometimes the quizzes and games - I was around off and on for about a year and a half before joining the forum.

Lets see I can owe my finding and signing up here to my friend who is trying to convert me to lotr. If not for her I would have never found this place. i still kinda have no clue what I am doing on here. I shall try though!!