Forgive me if I am reading this statement too generally, Willie, but it brings some further thoughts to mind about what kind of site the Barrow Downs is, especially in light of some of the other comments about friendship.
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We could just let them talk about their interests,
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Of course much of the delight of joining internet communities involves getting to know other people. This is as true of the Barrow Downs as of any other discussion forum.
But the Barrow Downs is unique in a particular way. It has always provided Tolkien and Middle-earth as a focus for that interest and has upheld a level of discussion about The Professor's work.
That is,
we learn about each other by reading what we have to say about Tolkien rather than by talking about ourselves directly. Or reading the ways in which we develope Middle-earth through interactive writing in the RPG forums. We don't use the forum for personal interaction or chat or to 'get to know each other' as people do over a beer or a coffee in a pub or café.
That we do in the chat room. We get to know each other better there, and can be a bit looser and more personal there, where we won't waste precious bandwidth.
Thus, I would like to invite the newcomers not only to PM me for help or advice but also to come to the chat room, which is the 'other side of this life we live' here, if I can allude to an old Jefferson Airplane song.
I am an Op there as well as being the Moderator for the Rohan RPG forum here, and I find I often talk in chat about the RPGs with the other gamers as well as discussing the literary threads. Often I have been able to discuss a thread or post with the person who wrote it, and that has been exciting. We can throw ideas around in chat, where they 'snowball' into more solid ideas that merit being 'published' here in addition to discovering what other interests we share.
I think this distinction between the discussion forum and the chat room is what confuses some of the newcomers. Come meet us in chat as well as here.
Bęthberry,
Moderator for the Rohan RPG forum
and Chat Op