Fading from the Moot

[Sminty_Smeagol]

This was on my mind a bit last night... I don't want to be melodramatic but I feel like I should get this off of my chest.

I realize that I have slowly been fading from the moot... hardly contributing... I never even visit the Tolkien boards. I feel like soon I will stop visiting at all. I recently passed 1000 posts without realizing it... this will be my 1011th. I first started visiting the Moot nearly two years ago, and it has changed a lot. Members have come and gone and it is weird to realize that I don't even remember most of them. I've never really been a very avid poster I don't think, and I haven't gotten to know many of you personally, But I would just like to use this thread to say a semi-goodbye and a thankyou.

It isn't a goodbye because I will probably still post every once in a while, it's just that I feel sort of weird realizing that I am not really involved here anymore, and I would like to thank you all for an enjoyable (nearly) two years here. It's weird how attached you can get to a group of people you don't even really know... so many of you here I am not familiar with at all. But I guess when you spend so much time with a group of people, some kind of sentimental emotional attachment is inevitable.

I'd just like to thank you all for your kindness, and for supplying me with intellectual conversations to read (and sometimes participate in) in my world that is mostly devoid of them otherwise.

That's all.

-Sminty

[Beor]

Well, Sminty, I dont really know you too well, as we have never really talked too much (a little here and there), but I understand what you are saying. I will still be sorry to see you leave. I feel like I am fading altogether, not just from the moot either. I feel, and not to quote Tolkien or be overdramatic here, but I feel thin, man. Oh well.

Later, dude!

[Lady Ravyn]

aw sminty! i'll be sorry to see you go! i ahevn't talked to you much, but i've read many of your posts and though you may not have much to say, when you do say something, it's worth reading. your drawings are so awesome, i hope you do something with that talent.
hope to see you around sometime!

[Sminty_Smeagol]

Aw, I'm not like deciding to leave or anything. I just suddenly become aware that I feel like it is slowly happening, as it is inevitable for everyone at some point or another. I'll probably be around for a while longer, who knows I might get re-interested and post more than ever, but I just have this feeling that that isn't very likely and I wanted to add a few words of appreciation before I eventually stop visiting...

It's kind of a creepy feeling you know? I just feel like I'm kind of visiting the moot more out of habit... it's weird when you get used to something then realize that some day soon you probably won't be doing it anymore.

[Insidious Rex]

now whats this all about?

[Valandil]

Hey Sminty... I see what you mean. It seems like a very common "mooting experience" is for someone to come in all fresh and new - and excited about Tolkien's work, post quite a bit in their favorite Tolkien forums, gradually shift to where they start to post in GM - until they post more in GM than Tolkien - and eventually post only in GM. By this time they're doing as much PMing as posting. Then at some point, everything loses its freshness, or they find they've lost interest in Tolkien, or there's a 'blow-up' of some sort and they or one of their friends gets hurt. Then they often fade away.

I guess some of this is the natural cycle of things. Our interests in certain subjects will always come and go. Since I first read 'The Hobbit' - maybe 28 years ago, I haven't constantly been a rabid Tolkien fan. Oh - I've always appreciated his work, but it seems to come and go in phases. You know - read the books, get interested, get satisfied, move on to something else. Several years later you pick the books back up, re-read them, notice all kinds of things you didn't remember from before, get interested, eventually get satisfied and then move on to something else. That's how life is on these hobbies and interests we have. My current 'phase' of interest has been pretty long. I started reading the books again in fall of 1999 - I actually hadn't heard anything about the movies yet (it was just 'time' to read them again - it had been about 6 years since my last reading, I had never read the Sil, and this time I decided to go chronologically - read the Sil first, then Hobbit, then LotR!) - but anyway, once I found out about the movies, part way through my reading, that fueled my interest even more. So really - 4 1/2 years being this interested is unusual for me, and I'm sure it's been largely protracted by the movies. Not sure how much longer it will last, but we'll see. I half expect it to hang on a little longer... until several years from now (maybe about when my oldest is 11 or 12 and can appreciate 'The Hobbit') - I'll probably pick the books up again and fall in love with them all over again.

Meanwhile, I've re-read LOTR a couple more times with the movies going on, plus read a Tolkien bio, UT, Letters... and even picked up one of the HoMe books.

As far as Entmoot, I've made a conscious decision to try to post more in the Tolkien forums. And to try to twist my brain to start up new threads that might turn out to be interesting (and that haven't been done yet... THAT'S what makes it really hard! ).

So - hang in there - and do as you like! If you can re-kindle your interest in Tolkien's work, enjoy! If not... then I expect you might pick the books up again... whether 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now, and learn to love them all over again.

The neat thing now too is that we even HAVE the internet and message boards like this. When I was a teen-ager reading all this for the first time, home computers weren't a reality yet. You know - you have a few other friends who have read / are reading the books - but the discussions didn't get near the level we have here.

[katya]

Fascinating commmentary, Valandil. I'm exactly the same way. Both with the books and the board. Don't worry, Sminty. Probably someday you'll come back after a while, realize there's lots of new stuff you want to do, and post like crazy for a few days. That's how I am anyway. There've been times where I left for months, literally, then came back and was here everyday. You've been refistered for about as long as me, so maybe you just have longer cycles....or something.... Anyway, I really only talked to you in the Tengwar thread (back in the day) but I enjoy your posts, so I hope you fade back in after you've faded out.

[Valandil]

Thanks katya... and you know, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. People will constantly come and go... the bright part about that is that new people are constantly coming. Just so they feel 'drawn-in' and don't really have to 'prove themselves' before they actually feel accepted, the MB can be sort of 'self-perpetuating'. As you lose members whose current interest is fading, you always have the potential of gaining new members who are only just discovering Tolkien... or whose interest in his work is being renewed (EDIT: OR those who know Tolkien's work quite well and only just discover or just register at this site).

And you're right... we've already seen a number of people fade and then come back.

And Sminty - yes to what katya said to you too! You especially start some VERY good, thought-provoking threads. I'll try especially hard within the next two weeks to make an answer to your 'ADD/ADHD' thread I've been wanting to do for a couple months (sorry - but this next week is pretty crowded - that's why I say two weeks).

[Sween]

I hardly have the time to be here but then again im doing stuff which is slighly more important and intresting so i aint so fussed but i still like to pop in from time to time. My bloody child dont give me a moments peace

[Hawklan]

Sminty Smeagol

I understand how you feel - I was once a member in a former life and laid low for a good few months as all I was doing was looking forward to the movies and maybe forgetting the real reason I became obsessed with the Rings ( thats not having a go at the movies as I beleive they are truly wonderfull - I first read the rings 27 years ago and at the time there was never a chance that a movie would ever be made, even the cartoon was a thing of wonderment to me !!! )Maybe have a fallow period and you may become reinvigorated and thirsty for a bit more magic, hope so anyway.

[Snowdog]

I come and go all the time, so much so that i have only mustered this many posts in 3½ years. Do what you feel ike doing. Post when you cwant, and go elsewhere when you want. Cheers!

[Lady Ravyn]

Originally posted by Hawklan
I was once a member in a former life and laid low for a good few months as all I was doing was looking forward to the movies

actually, to make a confession, i too have had other screen names here, but i lost interest after a while, only to come back again, until now when i've racked up more posts than i ever had before; i'm glad i just misunderstood you, sminty, when i thought you were leaving- so many others are going it would be a shame to lose more people
i'm glad your not leaving