LotR Reading Club

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Just to bring everyone up to date on what's been happening in PMs between Esty (who mods the book forum) and myself. . .

I have given Esty a first and very rough draft of a sticky that will go at the top of the threads list for the forum, in which the purpose of the forum is explained and any and all who wish to are invited to join in the conversation.

I will also be writing up and sending along to her a first post/intro thingee for the Prologue, with which we shall begin the first thread for discussion. I hope to have this available by Monday night, which means we might very well be able to get the ball rolling by, well, early next week (so everyone get out there and read the Prologue!) I will do my best to 'do' what people have been suggesting in that intro post, but if there are comments on the format of it, then pass those along so that future first-posters will be able to craft more useful intros.

I'm hoping that the mods are paying attention to the ideas/concerns about naming the threads for ease of sorting! These are the kinds of really important details that I never seem able to think of.

As to getting the word out -- when the forum officially opens for business, I will start a thread in each of the open forums (Books, Movies, Novices, Quiz
Room etc) to announce its arrival. If anyone can think of other ways to advertise the club, please go ahead and do so (anyone want to volunteer to PM every user????? ) As has been said so many times in this thread already, the key to success with this is going to be getting as many people as possible to participate.

One thing I'm not at all sure about right now is how we are going to bo about signing people up for those first posts to each thread. I hope that I am not earning her wrath by saying this in open forum without first doing so by PM, but I rather suspect that people interested in signing on for the intro post to a specific chapter should contact Esty -- and I getting this right, oh great and mighty Mod of the Books???

(Please, nobody contact her yet -- not until she's confirmed that I have gotten this right.)

[mark12_30]

(so everyone get out there and read the Prologue!)

GLEE!! GLEEE!!! Just in time for my bus ride home!!!!! Wahooooo!

[Imladris]

I am so excited to start this! Fwee!

*makes mental note to read the prologue before leaving on vacation...*

To help with advertising, etc, I could put a link to it in my sig.

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

As to getting the word out -- when the forum officially opens for business, I will start a thread in each of the open forums

With vB3, we have a nifty "Announcements" feature. You need only make one post, which will then be displayed in all fora. When all is in readiness, one of the admins can post the announcement.

[Mad Baggins]

This sounds terribly exciting! *applauds Fordim* I'm game!

[Maédhros]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

I have given Esty a first and very rough draft of a sticky that will go at the top of the threads list for the forum, in which the purpose of the forum is explained and any and all who wish to are invited to join in the conversation.

I will also be writing up and sending along to her a first post/intro thingee for the Prologue, with which we shall begin the first thread for discussion. I hope to have this available by Monday night, which means we might very well be able to get the ball rolling by, well, early next week (so everyone get out there and read the Prologue!) I will do my best to 'do' what people have been suggesting in that intro post, but if there are comments on the format of it, then pass those along so that future first-posters will be able to craft more useful intros.

I'm hoping that the mods are paying attention to the ideas/concerns about naming the threads for ease of sorting! These are the kinds of really important details that I never seem able to think of.

One thing I'm not at all sure about right now is how we are going to go about signing people up for those first posts to each thread. I hope that I am not earning her wrath by saying this in open forum without first doing so by PM, but I rather suspect that people interested in signing on for the intro post to a specific chapter should contact Esty -- and I getting this right, oh great and mighty Mod of the Books???

(Please, nobody contact her yet -- not until she's confirmed that I have gotten this right.)

Unless I'm terribly mistaken, this sounds an awful lot like the way the other Tolkien discussion I had mentioned when people get assigned to do intros into each chapter Mr. UnderHill. Where will I know for sure what the format is going to be.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Fordim apparently has friends in high places.

No, but we do recognize a great idea when we see it! As a matter of fact, back when something similar was started on the Downs, almost four years ago, it was Mister Underhill's idea! Anyone interested in ancient site history might want to scroll back and read the links he provided earlier on this thread. Alas, some of those discussions were lost, and many names of involved members are now only mythical to forum newcomers!

Fordim Hedgethistle, Mister Underhill and I have been corresponding, sharing ideas and plans and taking into consideration suggestions made on this thread. Many thanks to Underhill for his experience and technical expertise; he set up the new sub-forum. (If you haven’t yet noticed it, go to the Books forum main page and look at the top – it’s called “Chapter-by-Chapter”.) Here’s how it will work:


All Barrow-Downs members can post there; the ‘club’ includes anyone who takes part in the discussions.

Only BD administrators and selected moderators can begin threads on the sub-forum. That insures that only ‘official’ threads will be posted there, with uniform titles to make locating and finding threads easier. For the start, Estelyn Telcontar will be the moderator who starts the new threads.

An introductory thread will go up within the next day, explaining the idea and inviting all to participate. It will be ‘stickied’ to the top of the sub-forum.

There will be an official introduction by Fordim Hedgethistle only for the first discussion thread; neither he nor the involved mods/admins want the organisational headache of coordinating volunteer members to write summaries, etc. for each chapter. Anyone is welcome to prepare a post for her/his favorite chapter; we are confident that discussions will be excellent, whether there is no intro, one or several.

Members will be expected to stay on topic, especially when long book chapters must be divided up to keep the discussion from getting confusing. As on all other forums, moderators/administrators will step in to edit/delete inappropriate posts.

As was suggested, we will begin with a discussion of the Foreword; though it was written by Tolkien years after the book was first published, there are many good thoughts well worth discussing in it. (That thread should begin on Monday.) After that, we will discuss the Prologue, then one chapter after another. To begin with, each chapter discussion will last a week before the next one is started; threads will be left open so that newcomers and late starters can still participate.

Wow this thread is confusing! I had to read the whole thing

Yes, a lot of different thoughts have been offered and many taken into consideration. This post sounds a bit like ‘Shirriff’s rules’; however, it is intended to be helpful, to explain everything and to answer the questions people have asked. And quite honestly, if a bit of confusion would get more people to actually read whole threads, I’d have no objection!

[Kuruharan]

I was hoping to discuss that was happening in the book and not why or what ideals went into the writing of this book.

To me it would be boring to discuss what happenned in the books, because we already know that! I find it very interesting discussing the books in depth

Perhaps we can compromise and do both.