Tolkien discussion ideas

[Sister Golden Hair]

Welcome to the Middle-earth forum.

In an effort to promote discussion of Tolkien's various different works, we would like to invite you to post your ideas in this thread. List any topics you would care to discuss. Even topics that you feel may have been overdone or recently posted are welcome. Please feel free to make suggestions as to how you think we can improve our Tolkien community and its forums. We especially wish to invite and strongly encourage all newbies to join in.

We look forward to reading your topic ideas and suggestions.

Thank you for your participation.

[Elanor the Fair]

Thanks for the great idea SGH.

I am a "newbie" so I thought I'd post some ideas here as well.

I posted some ideas in the LOTR thread that would be relevant here, such as:

1. The variety of books that have been published, including collectors editions, support books such as maps, glossaries, illustrations etc.

2.Chronology would be very appropriate here - what was happening when, to whom, and where. Perhaps we could have a discussion of a decade at a time?? We could also plot these occurrences on a time line.

3.Relationships and genealogy - who is related to whom and how.

4.Character analysis - not as easy here as in the LOTR, however, we could discuss motivations and our perception of the characters.

Just a few ideas - I hope somebody thinks of a few more.

[brownjenkins]

good ideas... i especially like #4... maybe pick one character a week to delve into

[Artanis]

Good ideas folks I just wonder why we are asked to post here first on what we would like to discuss. Why not just go ahead and start a new thread?

[Sister Golden Hair]

So that I can get a better idea of what will be permitted. As you know, there is a rule in place about discussing topics that are less than 6 months old in a new thread. This way, I can figure out what people want to talk about and if a thread isn't that old or long, we can maybe revive it rather than start a new one. I think though, that if a thread is too lengthy, nomatter how old, we could post a new one. This also gives members a chance to express their areas of interest giving me a better idea of what upcoming threads may be. I originally wanted to make this a way of listing topics that were liked and then have members vote to see what would be the most popular ones, and then start threads omitting the rest.

[Artanis]

So the preferred procedure is: First to post in this thread that I would like to start another thread and on which topic, then wait for confirmation before actually starting the thread? Sorry, but this sounds a little cumbersome to me, and also too controlling.

Aren't you admins able to merge threads too, if encessary?

However, I like the idea of character analysis, perhaps carried out as a project in the same manner as the Sil project and the LotR project. Could be some interesting discussions emerging from that.

[Valandil]

No Artanis, I don't think the idea was ever to create additional procedures or set up more controls. All we were trying to do was create more dialog between members and staff about how to enhance the Tolkien-related parts of this board. A lot of this sprang from Beren's 'Don't Forget About Tolkien' thread of GM. We're actually discussing relaxing some of the rules (like limitations on how soon a thread similar to another could be started).

Sorry if you got the wrong impression.

[Artanis]

All right Val, thanks. So we may still start new threads as before then?

[Valandil]

Yes - we're just looking for additional ideas to help make the board more appealing... especially to new members perhaps, since so many join and don't stick around. At the same time, I'd LOVE to see in-depth discussion kick up a notch (maybe Sept/Oct/Nov will help bring it) to provide more satisfaction to well-versed Tolkien fans like youself.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally Posted by Artanis

So the preferred procedure is: First to post in this thread that I would like to start another thread and on which topic, then wait for confirmation before actually starting the thread? Sorry, but this sounds a little cumbersome to me, and also too controlling.

Hmmm, do I detect a condescending note here?

So we may still start new threads as before then?

I don't believe it was stated that new threads couldn't be started.

[Beren3000]

Originally Posted by Valandil

A lot of this sprang from Beren's 'Don't Forget About Tolkien' thread of GM.

(I'm speechless out of gratitude!)

By the way, I totally support the idea of character analyses, but I've already posted about that in this same thread in the LOTR books forum.
So admins, are we gonna have this project or what?

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Beren3000

(I'm speechless out of gratitude!)
...So admins, are we gonna have this project or what?

Hmmmm - don't know if we're looking at an actual 'project' per se. Ideas and dialog certainly, input on changes, etc. I say if someone wants to launch a character analysis thread, they should 'go for it!'

[Beren3000]

I think that such an enterprise should be organised in order to be interesting. It would benefit from a sub-forum (if that's not too much to ask at such a pivotal point in the history of the moot) to help keep the threads together. I think we should also have specific rules (not too harsh, though ) for posting in such threads.
By the way, I've been meaning to ask this: how can you make a thread "important" or, as our new and improved board would put it: "sticky"?

[Elanor the Fair]

OK, so there doesn't seem to be too many ideas on what to include as discussion topics. I'm new around here, so if you don't mind me asking.... exactly what is the perceived problem with Entmoot? Have you lost a lot of members? Why do you think that is so? Is there a particular profile of new members that you want to attract? If so, what would that be? Perhaps I could come up with some additional ideas if I know a little more about the history of Entmoot. I would like to help if I possibly can.

[Falagar]

Well, I believe some of the problem is that many of those who were involved in Tolkien-discussions earlier (me included) are, quite frankly, beginning to tire of it. As most of the popular topics have already been discussed to death and the less popular ones at least been touched, many feel that there isn't much left, and of what is being posted much is just repetition of earlier discussions. And the current heat (at least down here) isn't helping.

At least, that's the impression I've made.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally Posted by Elanor the Fair

OK, so there doesn't seem to be too many ideas on what to include as discussion topics. I'm new around here, so if you don't mind me asking.... exactly what is the perceived problem with Entmoot? Have you lost a lot of members? Why do you think that is so? Is there a particular profile of new members that you want to attract? If so, what would that be? Perhaps I could come up with some additional ideas if I know a little more about the history of Entmoot. I would like to help if I possibly can.

Well, the problem with Entmoot is not uncomon to message boards. Entmoot has gone through the usual changes that most do: traffic, members coming and going. The movies brought many newbies with their release which of course has died down now that its ended. We have always had a very lively General Messages forum, which seems to be the most popular forum on the board. I think the biggest problem is that Tolkien discussion has just been exhausted. What's to talk about when everything's been said? The Silmarillion forum has always been a bit slower than the others, I think simply because the book can prove a bit difficult especially at first reading and it seems that that forum is limited to a handful of fans. The Silmarillion Project brought a great deal of discussion to that forum over the past two years, but the project has recently wrapped up and traffic has gotten lighter so to speak.

Anyway, these are just a few reasons IMO as to why we need to try to liven up the book forums. We just need some fresh discussion. Like I've said: I would love to see some discussion on the HoMe series, but those books share a similar problem as the Silmarillion: just not enough people own them or have read them. I have 8 of them and still haven't thoroughly read any of them except Morgoth's Ring.

I see the charater analysis is underway and that should make for some interesting discusswion I think.

[Aphanuzîr]

The life-span of Durin the Deathless
The ancestry of Glorfindel
Did Galadriel, Celeborn and Glorfindel partake in the Last Alliance?
Did Thranduil's realm have a name?
The part of CÃ*rdan
What became of all the heirlooms of the Kings of Númenor?
The Lost Road and the father-son concept
Did Tar-Palantir have a PalantÃ*r?
Was CelebrÃ*an a pupil of Galadriel, and did she have a similar role in Imladris as Melian and Galadriel had in Doriath and Lórien respectively?
Pauline Baynes' map of Middle-earth
The meetings of Elwë and Melian, Beren and Lúthien, and Aragorn and Arwen

[Radagast The Brown]

I can tell you Tar-Palantir didn't have a Palantir, as they were brought to Amandil father of Elendil Lord of Andunie.
Nice ideas. You can open threads, I think, if you want to discuss them.

[Haradrim]

I think it might be cool to change the way titles work. Maybe you could add an evil title list. When people sign up they can choose which they want. Old members could maybe reply to an email or something. You should tell everyone what the new titles if you make them would be. I know I as a Haradrim wouldnt be happy being an elf-lord.

ALso you might want to consider a total redo of the board. Shut it down, wipe it out and start the whole thing over. I think that might attract a lot of new members. I remember when I first joined 4 days a go that I was a little nervous because everyone seemed to know each other and most of the good threads were every long and would take a long time to read.

Another suggestion might be to create a new forum from th emain entmoot page about LOTR that has weekly discussions. Like maybe one section could be devoted to chapters from LOTR and every week a new one starts up. Another could be about different kingdoms. You could also do character analyses. And you could even do one based on tthe races. ANd maybe also a what if thread. Every week you would delete the old thread, or maybe move it to a new forum where old weely posts go, and start a new one.

Just a couple of suggestions to maybe liven everything up.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

Originally Posted by Aphanuzîr

The ancestry of Glorfindel

Don't think he had any forefathers as he was one of the first born.