Post your stories about the Barrow-Downs here

[Snowdog]

I don't know what more I could say that I haven't already said in the other thread about my history here on Barrow Downs.

I guess I can share a few instances when wearing my t-shirt that I got into a conversation with a Middle Earth fan who read the books. The thing I have always liked about The Barrow Downs is it wasn't in Peter Jackson's movies, so a lot of movie fans didn't show up here like other sites I frequented at the time. If anyone saw that short or coffee mug and knew what it was in relation to Middle Earth, it was a moment that brought a smile to my resting grump-face.

Another good memory of the downs is I first met that award-winning journalist Natalia Antonova (Lush) here in a book discussion thread back in the early '00's. We've stayed in touch more-or-less ever since.

[mark12_30]

I’m in a minimalist mood.
So I’ll just say (for now) that I really miss Birdland.
And Friends of Nimrodel.
And The Lonely Star.

[Mithadan]

If I recall correctly, I found The Barrow-Downs using a webring. Anyone remember them? These sites collected links to websites about particular topics in the time before search engines were effective devices. You could search for Tolkien on Yahoo, for example, and get hundreds of hits, entirely unorganized and including web pages that merely mentioned the word "Tolkien." Yahoo did have an interesting feature where the newest webpages were listed and could be searched, before there were too many new webpages every day to allow this search route to be functional. This was before algorithms that delivered search results based upon popularity of searches, etc.

Webrings assembled lists of sites by a particular topic, either relying upon the taste and diligence of the webmaster or by the owners of the sites posting the links. So the early Tolkien webrings would list five or ten Tolkien websites to assist users in finding what they wanted. Webrings later gave way to "toplists" where a website could post a link or banner on the list and users could vote for their favorites. The sites were then ranked by the number of votes.

The best-known Tolkien toplist was "25 Hobbits" which listed the "best" 25 Tolkien websites based upon votes. The Barrow-Downs submitted its banner on 25 Hobbits and it did attract visitors. But soon after the list was created, competition arose. Everyone wanted their site to be listed at the top. 25 Hobbits' software wasn't tremendously discriminating. While a user, in theory, could "vote" (simply by clicking on a banner) only once a day, people found ways around this. Vote at home and then at work. Go to a library and vote once on each of the 10 or 20 public computers.

The Barrow-Downs, at first, was always near the top of the list. But as competition grew (and the movies drove traffic) the rankings became questionable. Some puzzling websites began appearing at the top of the list. Members began posting threads on the Downs urging everyone to vote because, of course, our site was the best, right? Some folks took it upon themselves to join other message boards to accuse their members of cheating. The reverse happened as well. Cross-boards flame wars began.

One of our primary competitors was Minas Tirith, a very good bulletin board in its own right (unfortunately now defunct) with a fairly large membership similar to ours. The flame war (and it wasn't large, just annoying) grew and continued for a few weeks. I joined Minas Tirith using my own user name to avoid criticism, communicated with its administrator, White Gold Wielder, about the problem, and began posting there to encourage tolerance. There was plenty of room for multiple message boards, they offered forum categories that differed from ours, and couldn't we all just get along? Things calmed down nicely, though there were occasional accusations of poaching (as if people weren't free to join one or the other or both).

Odd to think about this now, with message boards on the wane.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

One of our primary competitors was Minas Tirith, a very good bulletin board in its own right (unfortunately now defunct) with a fairly large membership similar to ours. The flame war (and it wasn't large, just annoying) grew and continued for a few weeks. I joined Minas Tirith using my own user name to avoid criticism, communicated with its administrator, White Gold Wielder, about the problem, and began posting there to encourage tolerance. There was plenty of room for multiple message boards, they offered forum categories that differed from ours, and couldn't we all just get along? Things calmed down nicely, though there were occasional accusations of poaching (as if people weren't free to join one or the other or both).

Odd to think about this now, with message boards on the wane.

I think I was citizen #15 on Minas Tirith. Met some good people there. One young lady is now touring with Hans Zimmer playing violin and has her own solo music career!

[Formendacil]

I don't think I've ever posted about how I came to be a member of the forum--if I have, it's long enough ago and on some thread obscure enough that I think I can retell it here.

My final year of high school there was a girl a year older than me who moved into town to go to college there--moved something like 1500 miles from Ohio to western Canada--and she became a member of our parish and we got to know each other as members of the relatively small youth group.

(Side note: I definitely had a crush on her--she's the reason I joined the parish choir.)

Obviously, one of the things she learned about me is that I was a Tolkien fan--a Tolkien snob, really--and at some point asked if I knew any Tolkien fan forums. I did not; my knowledge of online forums was limited to only thing I'd ever really spent time researching online: LEGO. To be honest, as a teenager with strong anti-movie feelings at the height of the movie era, I was a bit leery of fan forums, and said so. She told me that her sister was a member of a forum I might like somewhat better: the Barrow-downs.

Well, as the Christmas holidays were winding down, I did, in fact, join the forum. Eighteen years later, I have no idea what became of her (this was pre-Facebook), save that I believe she moved back to Ohio. I once knew her sister's username, but I think even early in my time here I was unsure of it, and at this point I have only the vague impression that it was a three- or four-syllable username starting with an "N."

It's funny how things turn out. I don't think her sister was ever a huge poster; certainly, my friend wasn't. But the Downs would become a major part of the next decade for me, and a major part of the big, 3000 mile move that *I* would make five years later.