History of this Forum

[Inziladun]

Thanks for that, Mith!

I too stumbled upon the Downs among a fairly large number of Tolkien-based EZ Board forums. Why I was looking for Tolkien web forums to begin with is now lost to me, as I am by nature not an outgoing person, and was in fact more than a little nervous of actually posting on a public forum.

What attracted me here were: 1. I think, the theme; the Barrow-Downs always had a distinct "feel" in the book. 2. The color scheme was striking; 3. The cerebral nature of the discussions.

Unlike Mithadan, my first post, responding to a question about the "Variags of Khand", was politely acknowledged by a long-gone member named Gwaihir the Windlord.

Originally Posted by Mithadan

While I miss many members that have drifted off over the years, I cannot blame them. After spending a year or three indulging one’s Tolkien interests, it is not surprising that people are figuratively dragged away by their schools, their jobs and professions, and their families. For whatever reason, even if I disappeared for a day, a month, or a season, I always returned to peek in and, almost invariably, I would end up posting.

Indeed. I have taken "sabbaticals" over the years, not posting much or at all for a while, and since 2019 or so I have found it more and more difficult to find the time for idle web browsing I once had. I still check in here at least once a day, though.

Originally Posted by Mithadan

So this is where we were during the first couple of years, until December 2001. And then the first movie came out…

Now that was fun!

When I learned Peter Jackson (of whom I'd never heard) was making blockbuster films of LOTR, I was rather nonplussed from the start.

I have always held Tolkien's work differently in my heart, from other works of art and fiction. There are reasons for this, which are not relevant to this thread. Suffice it to say, I did not want to see LOTR "modernized" for cinema, stripped of its soul. I was highly skeptical that any of the feel of the beloved books could be captured in a high budget production.
News of casting choices and "additions" like Arwen's enhanced role made me feel vindicated. I made a point of haunting the Movies section, arguing against not merely the way the films were being made, but of their very existence. I just didn't see the need for them.

My opinion was shared by a few others, but we were quite definitely in the minority. That's almost certainly even more so now. I still like reading those threads even today.

[Mithadan]

"Fun?" Define, "fun." Of course, you were not an administrator during that period.

FYI, for those interested, I plan to follow up on my History post with at least one more.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

"Fun?" Define, "fun." Of course, you were not an administrator during that period.

FYI, for those interested, I plan to follow up on my History post with at least one more.

I have popcorn at the ready. The ominous weight you put into that final line is just perfection.

I can push the date for the "earliest Downs" back a little further - the archived version of the News page contains clues to the site's original name, and the archived version of the original site features a guestbook comment from the webmaster:

Comment: Welcome to the Middle-Earth Resource.

We hope you spend a lot of time roaming around checking out everything. Please feel free to leave any words of wisdom here on the Guestbook. Remember, the forum is the best place to start a discussion or to get a question answered.
Date Signed: 07/24/1999 10:09:08 AM

The other half of the design team responds on the same date, so I think the 24th July 1999 is the genuine launch date for the site.

(Avoiding links because there's real names associated with all this.)

hS

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

"Fun?" Define, "fun." Of course, you were not an administrator during that period.

Hm. I remember the debate being mostly respectful. Then again, that was quite a while ago.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Hm. I remember the debate being mostly respectful. Then again, that was quite a while ago.

Late 90s, the Great Balrog Wings Flame War was still going. Although the nastiest battlefield was rec.arts.books.tolkien (anyone even remember Usenet?)