[Mithadan]

And then the first movie came out…

Throughout 2001, the administrators were expecting an uptick in both membership and the number of posts when Fellowship of the Ring came out. We had worked to add content and encourage thoughtful posts as well as civility and an atmosphere of collegiality. Personal attacks and scornful posts were discouraged, usually by PMs at first, followed by brief suspensions if the conduct continued. We had a solid core of posters who were truly interested in analyzing the books and discussing their ideas and theories. Again, these bulletin boards provided for many the first chance to do so.

I would guess that the average age of our members as of, say, November 1, 2001, was likely in the mid-twenties. Many were older and appreciated the Downs for the same reasons that I did. Around that time, we noticed some changes developing in the Tolkien internet realm. A number of new boards were beginning to pop up as setup of message boards became cheaper and easier. Some hosting services were offering essentially free setup if you didn’t mind the pop-ups and ads. These boards were, of course, not limited to Tolkien; they were a precursor to social media. So, competition was developing. Whether it was a conscious decision or just the way that we developed, we became the “smart” Tolkien board early on and took pride in this.

The movie previews in mid-2001 started driving curiosity. Our membership was growing relatively quickly and the need for policing similarly increased. We tried hard to be nice and friendly. But there certainly was an increase in less thoughtful posts. We started seeing very generalized questions along the lines of “what is the Lord of the Rings about?” If someone is perversely interested, I am sure that somewhere out there, there is the first question about “the blond elf” if anyone wants to look for it. But this was nothing we couldn’t handle…

FoTR came out on December 19, 2001 (it premiered in England about a week earlier). The forums changed nearly overnight. There was an incredible flood of new members. My prior post mentions a “landmark” where we reached 500 members in October 2001. I would guess that by March 2002 we had well over 5000 members. The average age of our members quickly went down to below 18 (maybe well below). The nature of the posts changed as well. I stumbled across a thread from late December 2001 where the poster proclaimed that he/she had just bought the books and the Hobbit comic book and asked were they too hard for a 14-year-old to read? This post was in all caps. What we came to term as “chat speak” became common (“do u luv habbits”). Members registered with “unusual” nicknames (see “i*love*orli”). Orlando Bloom became a major topic, though others had their personal favorites. We began experiencing trolls where previously they had been almost completely absent.

Directing traffic became a serious avocation at that time. Messaging rude or recalcitrant posters became frequent. Moving threads from forum to forum (Books to Movies or to Newcomers for example) or closing them outright became common. We no longer had the time to welcome new members as they first posted. It was not unusual to have ten or more “I’m new here” posts per day. Still, we tried to identify and encourage the more serious members while doing our best to keep up with the flood.

A new dynamic emerged. Older (both in age and in length of membership) members began to dislike or be openly critical of “newbies.” Some took it upon themselves to try to act as forum security. We discouraged this whenever we came across it. The “newbies” pushed back. Some purposefully caused trouble until they were suspended or banned. Others proclaimed that it was a free world and they had as much right to post whatever they wanted as anyone else. We tried hard to be tolerant. We tried to rein in the old-timers and (at least tried) to correct the new members. The chatroom became a nightmare. It was a free-for-all. We recruited people to try to moderate them and, actually, created a “secret” chatroom for the administrators and a few older members to quietly meet in. Even the private room was abandoned in a matter of months. I cannot exaggerate how challenging this period was.

I am unsure of the timing, but something else developed either in mid-2001 or early 2002. A well-known member opened a thread named something like “Let’s have our party here.” Set in a lounge, this was similar to some of our birthday parties, but, generally, toned down. Everyone posted “in character.” Many established members and even some of the administrators popped in. It ran for a month or two. Even though I think I know who started this thread, for the life of me I cannot find it. This was a precursor to the RPGs.

Whether inspired by the “party” thread (or the subsequent Birthday Party thread) or not, RPGs began emerging, spontaneously erupting in various forums. This led to a meeting of the powers that be. Some administrators were completely against RPGs. Others were more tolerant, so long as they were vaguely “on topic” and were monitored. Barrow-Wight set up a new forum for “freestyle” RPGs. Anyone could open a thread and pretty much anyone could join in. We warned that this was an experiment. Dozens of RPGs were started. Trouble soon followed. People complained that they were being shut out or ignored. Others complained that members were interfering with the “plots” or causing trouble. Games were started and abandoned or meandered on for months with no end in sight. Others had little or nothing to do with Tolkien at all. Our first official moderators were appointed to try to maintain order and civility. Ultimately, matters devolved to the point where the administrators decided to step in. The decision was close, and the choices were to prohibit RPGs entirely or to control them. We created a private sub-barrow and invited the best gamers, those who wrote well and had organizational skills, and we talked things out. There were a few ground rules. No more freestyle games, all games on topic, there had to be a plot and an identifiable point where the game would end. We created a tiered system for beginner, intermediate and experienced gamers. Moderators were appointed (this soon spread to all of the forums), there was an “application” process and only the mods could open new RPG threads. Existing games were distributed among the tiers. Some members did not like this and left. Others stuck it out and enjoyed themselves (generally). We even conducted tutorials. This lasted for a while.

A few final tales before I close this chapter. We sometimes received messages from parents of young members. Some noticed their kids posting on the Downs and asked if the forum was appropriate. Some complained about controversial topics. Here’s a story I have never told anyone. There was a thread opened called “gay subtext” that questioned whether the relationships between some of the characters implied, directly or indirectly, homosexuality. The first posts were cogent and pretty well thought out. I noticed this thread early, let the other administrators know about it, and tried to stay out. Some of our more conservative members took great offense. Their responses ranged from “of course not” to “how dare you!” Others tried to discuss the issue and defended posters’ rights to discuss a topic in an amicable manner. When well-established members started tossing insults at each other, I stepped in as a peacemaker, first discussing free speech, our pride in the thoughtful nature of our boards, and our policies against insults and flaming. The I added my own view on the matter, that Tolkien was writing about camaraderie and loyalty, not sexuality. I concluded with a warning to play nicely that went unheeded. I closed the thread for a day and reopened it. The fighting resumed. I decided to do some snooping and checked into the identities of a few troublemakers that seemed to be posting only to that thread. I found them all, using the same screennames, posting on another message board, and laughing about how they had riled up the “nerds.” Banned. The thread continued without them and was ultimately locked. What does this have to do with parents? Someone joined just for the purpose on making a single post and never posted again. The post? It was in the gay subtext thread and read “Try the delete button, Mith.” I communicated with this person and found one of their kids had been following along on this thread. We had a pleasant conversation about the importance of free speech, and how we watched over things. We never communicated again.

There are other stories that I could relate, but this post has gotten over-long. By the time the third movie had come out, our membership was north of 20,000, we had received any number of accolades, and things had calmed down a bit. Most, though not all, of our older members had weathered the storm. There has always been a rate of attrition, as I commented in my post above, so I do not know how many people left on their own for whatever reason or left due to the chaos. And it was chaos, at least at times.

I will conclude later with another shorter post about the post-movies period.