I'm fortunate in that my family and real friends tolerate my oddities. My mom belonged to at least one forum before I even know such a thing existed (circa 2000), and she tolerates and encourages my activities here (although she thinks I should spend less time on the computer). I think this is fair, since I tolerate the fact that she has only missed watching
Jeopardy! a handful of times in the last 16 years or so and hates being interrupted when it's on. My friends tolerate my interest too, especially since one of them is an avid LotR fan herself and likes to spend time on forums.
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Originally Posted by VanimaEdhel
But you know, any Forum dedicated to one thing is kind of odd if you consider it. At least we have a broader topic - there are many books Tolkien wrote, we can discuss his life in general, and there are the movies to talk about. Plus Role-Playing is always an option. Meanwhile, at boards dedicated to a single person - Dominic Monaghan, Andy Roddick, Derek Jeter, Josh Hartnett, etc. - how much can they really talk about? All they can discuss is whether Dominic Monaghan is "really" dating Evangeline Lilly or something equally as inane. We can broaden our conversation, discussing cultures within the books, how it reflects on our culture, language, nuance, metaphor, biography, religion - the whole nine yards. That's why our Forum has lasted so long, I think. Even after all this time, we can still find ways of discussing new things - that's the difference between books and people or even books and movies. There's just more to talk about when you're discussing and author and his works.
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Even stranger than a forum devoted to just one person, I once stumbled a forum devoted completely to long hair. I've been trying (unsucessfully) for 12 years to grow my hair (it's only grown a foot or so in that time), so I thought I'd join. Before I did, I realized that there had to be a very finite number of ways in which long hair can be discussed. What was the nail in the coffin was that this forum had a section entirely of members'
journals about their hair. I still can't comprehend what sort of things these could possibly contain, other than this type of entry:
Dear Diary,
Today it was very warm and humid. My hair was frizzy. It's still the same length and color it was yesterday. I washed it today.
Love,
Hair forum member
See what I mean? Compared to something like that, our discussions here are incredibly diverse and varied.