Much fun

[Nóm]

So, how is everyone enjoying the debate tournament?

I am having a blast with it. It is cool to see all of you guys debating these topics. I also think it's quick pace is just a tad bit of hardship that enriches the experience.

We have had some interesting topics so far, and because of the competitive nature this has brought out a lot more than general discussions on the topics probably would have.

Though debates are limiting because people often have to play down certain information in order for their side to be more convincing, it does have some plusses since it makes people post about things they normally would not and it forces one to consider points of view that they otherwise wouldn't give as much consideration to.

This last few weeks have been the most fun I've had at TTF in quite awhile. Anyone else?

The tournament has brought a lot of laughs thanks to YayGollum, snaga1 and others. A lot of fun participating in, reading and judging, and even misty eyes in the case of the Finrod/Turgon debate:o... the attention to the mighty King's and destruction of their realms, Hurin's pleads to Turgon, and the emphasis given to the meeting of Finrod with men by baragund... a topic close to my heart. Very well said baragund!

[baragund]

I'm having a great time, too! Almost all of the time I spend in the forum is either in the tournament, or checking tournament discussion threads in each of the guilds.

The collaboration that goes on among team members is super. I'm getting to know my fellow guild members much better than I would have otherwise.

The depth of discussion is so much more rewarding than in the general discussion threads. Because you have to defend the posts you put up, and you have to try to poke holes in your opponents posts, it's necessary to really check through the books to make sure your statements are sound. In the general discussion threads, I have a tendency to post based on what I remember reading, in some cases, several years ago. And of course with each new reading, I'm constantly getting better insights (I think) into the stories.

Same goes with judging. The two teams whose work is being judged put many many hours of effort into their posts, and it shows with fascinating intepretations of events that I had never dreamed of before.


Thank you so much, Nom, for the wonderful compliment. I consider your expertise of JRRT's writings in the top 1 or 2 in this forum, so that's very high praise indeed. You know, I stumbled across that by accident. I was flipping through The Silmarillion, looking for material, and not having much luck when I came across the passage of Finrod meeting Beor's people. I read it, read it again, and read it a third time, before the magnitude of that event sank into my thick skull. Until then, I just considered it an interesting, but not very important event.

Enough babbling. You see why I have no problem with the tournament lasting a little longer (see discussion thread).

[Scatha]

I am amusing myself, despite the fact that we are having difficulties. I entered these debates as a request, when one of our members decided to withdraw and filled the position.

So far, this has been a great experience and I am enjoying this immensely, together with our devoted captain of our team, Bethelarien.

:D

[Gil-Galad]

In the very beginning I was very disappointed from the debates.It was so,because of the things that happened in Round 1 and Round 2 with our Guild.There were many organizational problems,many weak points in the whole tournament.Weak points that made me even angry.

But thanks to persons like Eriol,Ithy,Nym,Aule etc.......everything got better.And now I really enjoy the debate now,especiall Round 3 and the debate between GoT and GoS.It was a pleasure for me to read it and I even re-read several times,and I will remember it for a long time.
I was surprised by the way everything was changed,changes were made for the good of the whole tournament and that's really great.

[YayGollum]

Huh. This looks good. I'm having all kinds of fun. Why not? It looks like people have been having fun reading what I had to write. Even though some have said that I'm hard to understand. *sniff* oh well. It's my evil style, I guess. Shall half-heartedly try to fix it. What else? I think this thing is helping me remember some of the names around here. That's good. I still need an especially fun debate. The only ones I've been in were tolerable. I'm a fan of debating about all kinds of craziness.

[Beleg]

*Why do I always get cracked up after reading YayG's posts?*

Anyway to date It has been fun.
It has enhanced my knowledge of Tolkien in general and the respective topic in particular, a great deal.
I have found fun debating with some peeps,

[Inderjit, Baragund :)]

But their seems to be a general shortage of LOTR based topics. :(

[YayGollum]

I don't know why people think my posts are funny. Or confusing. oh well. I'm just writing how I'd normally talk. Silly me. Anyways, I thought about tossing the 'Gollum was definitely the real hero!' debate in there, but I don't think that too many people would like to try my side of the arguement. *sniff*

[Chymaera]

Fun?:confused:

You call this fun?:eek:

Okay I admit it Fun Fun Fun:D:D:D

I haven't worked so hard since I was in school(back while the earth was cooling);)

We are all going to be let down in the Fall when the tournament is over and we will have nothing to do until the 'Return of the Kings' hits the theaters

[Eriol]

Yep; very fun!

Sim; Muito divertido!

Si; Muy divertido!

Praise them with great praise! Many "Ernils" around here! Eglerio! A laita te, laita te!

And this is the end of the Praises for the Debating Tournament. Can we get some other languages?

:D

[YayGollum]

Is everyone expected to be able to translate all of that? Ick. I can't. oh well. Let me see here. Praise them with great praise. Very sad. Those nasssty hobbitses should have told people about Gollum the Hero right about them. I guess they were just too evil for that. *sniff* Anyways, someone could always come up with something else to do besides just waiting for another tournament or talking about this last movie. You people are full of creative juices, right?

[omnipotent_elf]

lol, any reason why "gollum the hero" has come up a few times yay?

i cant think of any..;)

[YayGollum]

Probably because of my own brand of creative juices. Please forgive my repetitive nature. *bawls* Doobedoobedoo... are things getting less fun with this crazy little tournament? Not too much action going on in here.

[Scatha]

Well, it is vacation season to most of the members. Maybe that is why not much posting is being done? ;)

[YayGollum]

I hate that evil winking thing. oh well. Sure, I'm not stupid enough to not notice that less is happening over here nowadays. But then, my question had nothing to do with that. I can see that plenty of people are still around. I was asking if things were less fun for these people. Please excuse the confusion I didn't mean to cause by my last post.

[Scatha]

I see. For the ones still around during off-season, things will be a little too slow for their taste. Some may decide to seek greener pastures. That is the unwritten rule on forum-life. :)

[YayGollum]

Sounds like an evil rule that should never get written. Or maybe I'm just a crazy person who happens to have obtained a little more faith in my fellow members. :eek: :rolleyes: oh well. I see that people are still around. I expect them to post. Or at least show up here with a rant that says they're too bored to be having fun.

[Scatha]

Yay, that would be something I would like to see as well. I have faith in a lot of the members I know, that they will stick around and make posts, but I do not know all of the members.

Showing up and posting seems to be the real issue here. They do not have to be bored, when they are on these forums, as there is plenty of things to do here. :)

[Arvedui]

Fun?
Of course I am having fun! I am still laughing about the Periaur vs. Tolkienology-debate.........

And TTF is a great place. I was without internet-connection for the whole of last week, and that surely made me understand how much I love this place. (Hmm, that should perhaps have been written in another thread.)

So it really doesn't bother me if there is less activity these days, there is always something intriguing to find and to read.

[Scatha]

So it really doesn't bother me if there is less activity these days, there is always something intriguing to find and to read.

My point exactly, Arvedui. :D

[YayGollum]

Insane people, I wasn't talking about less people showing up to post nowadays. I was ranting about people that I see are posting in the debates and not posting in here about how much fun they're having. Got it? I thought I had already cleared that up. I don't get why this Scatha person assumed that what I was actually talking about was people not showing up to post. Craziness. Anyways, what happened in that debate that you were talking about, Arvedui person?

[Arvedui]

All sorts of fun business.
Like the Periaur complaining about the topic, halfway into the debate.
Then the Tolkienologists complaining about the Periaur's complaints (understandably). Then the Periaur re-engaging with full force the last 24 hours, which of course triggered some reactions from the Tolkienologists.
It was great fun hosting that one.

Afterwards...:D

[YayGollum]

Sounds like you're not much of a fan of the periaur people. oh well. Doobedoobedoo... I had fun scrambling for a topic for this fourth round thing that I'm hosting. Craziness. I really wanted to go for the old Gollum was the real hero debate, but my evil mom lady said that people wouldn't like it. *sigh* I was trying to toss a topic at people so I could steal their points for later discussions. oh well. No chances for evil motives this time. :rolleyes:

[Bethelarien]

I'm having much more fun now that I'm not debating alone. That first round was just terrible. But, it's all gravy, and it's much fun now. Especially since I have Scatha. ;)

Of course, GoE can't seem to win any of the debates....:mad:

And YG, are you sure there are no evil motives this time? Because that topic seems to be reeking of evilness...;)

And I hope the GoP v. GoT debate is somewhere, I'd like to read that one...:D

[Nóm]

Originally posted by Bethelarien

Of course, GoE can't seem to win any of the debates....:mad:




You guys argue very well given what you have to work with and I say your team is often at a disadvantage because most of the other teams (GoS,GoT,OiE,GoO and perhaps Periaur) have at least one team member who have read much of HoME that comes in useful in debates. Books like Morgoth's Ring, for example, can be used in a lot of debates... and always and especially those which ask for comparisons between men and elves, or deal with the nature of either of those races. GoE have been stuck with such a topic. HoME X is also of use for topics dealing with Sauron and Melkor. HoME 10 and 11 have the Annals of Aman and Grey Annals which can be of use when you need to know the dates of events, and unless one knows the Silmarillion extremely well, he/she probably doesn't have a real good knowledge of exactly when the events happend in relation to the others.

I find it to be unfair to have a topic where one side has a big advantage by reason of having read some books that give a lot of important information on the topic, when the other team has not.

Maybe I am wrong in thinking this is wrong... maybe that is just the way it goes like it or not, but I would like to see something done about this.


But at least everyone is having fun. It is nice to be able to win officially, but I think it is more important that a team feel good about their arguements whether they win it or not.

Also, even though the judges' decisions count for deciding the winner... the judges are not always right (If they were, then all judges would always have the same things to say... right?:D), and for that reason their decisions should never outweight what a person thinks of their own performance. :) [I'm sure everyone knows this - just babbling.]

[YayGollum]

How is the topic evil? Well, I thought it was boring, but I went with it when I couldn't think of a new way to word a topic that I'd use to my advantage. :rolleyes: oh well. sorry about that. Anyways, yes, I knew that Confusticated lady. I'm having all kinds of fun no matter what the judges do. Right now, I'm having fun with being a judge, though. For that Tolkienology and ost-in-edhil thing. Looks like they're fans of jumping on people and making them look bad. Or at least using all kinds of sarcasm with each other. That's always fun to read.

[Arvedui]

It is, isn't it?
And also a bit more fun way of debating. At least how I see it, and it looks as if thats the way the Tolkienologists liked it as well. One more example of how much fun this sort of thing can be.
And Yay, I don't have anything against the GoP. In fact, I don't have anything against anyone here on TTF. That is perhaps why I spend so much time here.:)

From what Nóm says, I suppose it was a good idea to start reading Morgoth's Ring a week ago, then?

[Manveru]

Originally posted by Nóm
So, how is everyone enjoying the debate tournament?

I am having a blast with it. It is cool to see all of you guys debating these topics. I also think it's quick pace is just a tad bit of hardship that enriches the experience.

We have had some interesting topics so far, and because of the competitive nature this has brought out a lot more than general discussions on the topics probably would have.

Though debates are limiting because people often have to play down certain information in order for their side to be more convincing, it does have some plusses since it makes people post about things they normally would not and it forces one to consider points of view that they otherwise wouldn't give as much consideration to.

This last few weeks have been the most fun I've had at TTF in quite awhile. Anyone else?

The tournament has brought a lot of laughs thanks to YayGollum, snaga1 and others. A lot of fun participating in, reading and judging, and even misty eyes in the case of the Finrod/Turgon debate:o... the attention to the mighty King's and destruction of their realms, Hurin's pleads to Turgon, and the emphasis given to the meeting of Finrod with men by baragund... a topic close to my heart. Very well said baragund!
So far ... so good :D
I haven't got a chance to participate, yet... (I'm about to have my ''debute'' in the 5th round against GoE/GoD--I'm looking forward to that:D).
But I spent some time here reading the debates and wow... they're amazing - You guys are amazing!! - I don't know if I can 'match' with such a good debators... We'll see ;)
So the answer to the first question... Yeah! I enjoy the debates:D:D
(I hope that this 'summer frenzy' won't spoil the atmosphere here;))

[YayGollum]

I never wrote that I thought you had anything against the periaur people. I just wrote that I thought you weren't a fan. oh well. just from the fact that you were talking about them complaining and doing all kinds of craziness in the last twenty-four hours. Didn't sound like the most admirable thing to point out. Maybe I'm just crazy.

[Manveru]

Now that I participated at last (in Rnd 6 against the GoO) I may truely say I have had fun from debates (active debating;)).

Looks like there's gonna be a draw... whatever happens to that last vote (Scatha's or baragund's--I'm little confused;))... whether GoT or GoO wins... it doesn't matter... it was pure fun debating with you guys...

:D

[Aulë]

I think that both baragund and Scatha still need to judge in your debate.
Three votes have been cast so far (one of which was an averaged vote between reem and Ciryaher), and all have been 'draws'.

[YayGollum]

That was your first debate tournament thing, Manveru person? Huh. Maybe I've just seen you in too many other places. oh well. Yes, I didn't mind this topic as much as some of the others. It was, as the title of this thread reminds me to point out, much fun. Too short. Too easy, too, but I can't talk about that yet, I guess. :rolleyes:

[Lhunithiliel]

Originally posted by Arvedui
All sorts of fun business.
Like the Periaur complaining about the topic, halfway into the debate.
Then the Tolkienologists complaining about the Periaur's complaints (understandably). Then the Periaur re-engaging with full force the last 24 hours, which of course triggered some reactions from the Tolkienologists.
It was great fun hosting that one.

Afterwards...:D
Well.... To me ...to us...it was surely NOT fun! :(
And I deffinitely don't think the Periaurs' arguments were so valuable or strong as to win them that debate! ...But that discussion is long closed....

Besides... what do you mean that the Tolkienologists like it to debate with sarcasm? :rolleyes:
Please! The debates are, in addition to all, meeting people and interacting with them... And ain't human relations based on the "mirror"- principle?! We behave responding to what we "see in the mirror"!

And I don't see why our attempts to get fair play is understood as "complaining"!!!:eek: