The TTF Year book 2002

[Elbereth]

The new year is fast approaching and before it does, I believe it is the time for us all to reminesce on the past year in the Tolkien Forum.
What memories do you remember most fondly of your stay here at TTF?

Let's share our experiences of both good times and bad as we recap the following year.

(sorry, if this came out weird...I'm at work and I can't compose this properly...I hope you all get my point)

[Thorin]

My best and worst memories are the same thing. Arguing and discussing the movie with past movie defenders Foe-Hammer and Harad and current members, markrob and Talimon.

They were frustrating but fun. My didn't we hash things out? :D

I enjoyed the speculation before FoTR came out and when most of you were not even members yet. We had fun and there will be more to come after TTT!

I'm still chomping at the bit to discuss the extended FoTR DVD but I don't think I'll get to it until the weekend.

[HLGStrider]

I've been on almost a year! Eleven months...

All the good times at the dragon including two weddings... those were good.

[Ice Man]

Ulairi being banned is worth a mention, and so is me joining. :)

[Talierin]

Hmm, good memories... being called a "cantankerous old coot" by a movie fan (can't remember who it was, heehee), getting my finger bite off by Dain in the SD... cleaning parties with Grond... lots of good stuff

[Beorn]

Becoming a moderator
Having to deal with Ulairi's disrespect for the rules
The Silver Dragon Inn
Having to deal with Ulairi's continued disrespect for the rules
The NEW Silver Dragon Inn
The problems with LotRO
Resolving the problems with LotRO
Narya's falsified death
Fighting the FADs! (NPWs forever!)
Having to deal with Ulairi's continued disrespect for the rules

[Talierin]

Ooo, becoming a mod, definatly on my list...

Mike, we mustn't forget tagging Ulairi that one night with as many points as possible! *giggles*

[Eliot]

Hmm... a lot of cool stuff happened, but what I remember the most is the discussion about CCM and conservative christian music in between the christians of this forum (I also got 4 warning points :D).

[Kementari]

--The orginal little forum, well over a year ago, that me Cir Tal Lanty Asha Anc and a lot of others posted on.
-- The new present forum when hardly anyone posted and me and Mike (aka Beorn) used to fight for top posting spot.
-- The Battle of Treachery (FIC)
-- The Silver Dragon!!!!!!!
-- All the movie hype (alot of people were disappointed)
-- Cir turning Arnor into an Empire, and the fights with Elessar (FIC)
-- Ulairi
-- All the new moderators
-- The White Council and more fighting with Dengen (FIC)
-- Evil Voodoo peanuts

You wouldn't believe how much this forum has changed over the last year, not only in appearance, everything.

[Thorin]

Originally posted by Kementari
--The orginal little forum, well over a year ago, that me Cir Tal Lanty Asha Anc and a lot of others posted on.....You wouldn't believe how much this forum has changed over the last year, not only in appearance, everything.

Yeah, those were the good old days.Things have really changed.. I know even before that forum (Aug 2001) came about, I was Guibox on the older forum. I don't know if I'm the oldest continual member or what.

Who's left from the beginnning? Me, Kem, Anc, Cir, Mike B (aka Beorn), Read Wryt (Where the heck has he been?) Talierin, aragil, and Aerin I think are the originals. Anyone else I missed?

[Ice Man]

Originally posted by Beorn
Becoming a moderator
Having to deal with Ulairi's disrespect for the rules
The Silver Dragon Inn
Having to deal with Ulairi's continued disrespect for the rules
The NEW Silver Dragon Inn
The problems with LotRO
Resolving the problems with LotRO
Narya's falsified death
Fighting the FADs! (NPWs forever!)
Having to deal with Ulairi's continued disrespect for the rules

Why isn't Ulairi unbanned?

[Beorn]

Originally posted by Talierin
Ooo, becoming a mod, definatly on my list...

Mike, we mustn't forget tagging Ulairi that one night with as many points as possible! *giggles*

Yeah...supposedly you can't get more than 25 points on a person...Tal, Cir, and I managed to trick the system into giving him 75....



Why isn't Ulairi unbanned?
Well, Personal Attacks that needed to be moderated (10+), and Multiple Accounts (AFAIK, he has had 4...)...

Multiple Accounts result in instant banning indefinitely.

[Talierin]

Originally posted by Thorin
Yeah, those were the good old days.Things have really changed.. I know even before that forum (Aug 2001) came about, I was Guibox on the older forum. I don't know if I'm the oldest continual member or what.

Who's left from the beginnning? Me, Kem, Anc, Cir, Mike B (aka Beorn), Read Wryt (Where the heck has he been?) Talierin, aragil, and Aerin I think are the originals. Anyone else I missed?

Let's see... it's Lanty (he's the oldest, aka Pontifex), Cir (second oldest), Kem, Me, Ash, Aragil (I don't remember him, but that's ok), You, Anc (formerly known as DancesWithSharks), Tar-Ancalime.... hmm, I think that's it that I can remember.

Mike joined this board the day it opened, but wasn't on the old board. Aerin joined this board in August 2001, after she moved to Washington.

[Beorn]

Originally posted by Talierin
Mike joined this board the day it opened, but wasn't on the old board.

I was on the old board!...for about 3 hours...

[Talierin]

Oh yeah! heehee

i remember being mad at you cause you were first to sign up for this board and got member number 2, which I wanted!

[Ice Man]

Originally posted by Beorn

Well, Personal Attacks that needed to be moderated (10+), and Multiple Accounts (AFAIK, he has had 4...)...

Multiple Accounts result in instant banning indefinitely.

:rolleyes:

Let him back. I'm sure he has changed.

[Eliot]

Yeah, right!

[Adrastea]

As always everyone is forgetting me, but thats ok cause I have been very quiet lately, I think I joined on the same day as Aerin under my old account Chippy.

I can remember joining and then I had a little fight with Anc (don't know what about though), and it scared the **** out of me but it was hilarious!

Another moment for me was reading a pm from Talierin asking me if I wanted to be Queen of Gondor! I was so suprised!

[Khamul]

Problems with TTF.

Becoming a mod at lotro.

Harad and Variag getting banned.

Ulairi getting banned.

Narya's 'death'.

My continually dissapearing posts. :) "As long as I have over 100"
:rolleyes:

To be honest, I would be all for the return of Harad, VoK, and Ulairi.

[Beorn]

Let him back. I'm sure he has changed.
Yeah, right!
I will swear to you that he is the same, or was about a month ago...

Ulairi caused more trouble than anyone here (Bar the mods) know. He had 4 accounts that we had to chase him down with. He's said things like 'Please take you and your mediocre intelligence out of my thread' multiple times. Not only is it not his thread, but it's not his forum, and he can't boss people around. --<Editted by Request>--. I gave him so many chances, and he has forsaken himself. When, in chatting with him, he spoke to each person with a different attitude. When he spoke to Cir, he had an 'I'm better than you' attitude, when he spoke to me, he had a 'Have pity on my soul, for I cannot help myself' attitude...

I feel that no one who didn't have to deal with him knows or comprehends how much trouble he made.

Harad and Variag getting banned.

Actually, VoK isn't banned...he left...He can still come back any time he wishes, if he does....

[Khamul]

And he left for good reason, imo, it wasn't exactly the most diplomatic response by all involved.

[Grond]

I think we should just recap our experiences of the year and not go into any detail... especially against banned members who have no defense against our bashing them here. While Ulari and Harad were banned for cause, it might be good to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak.

[Anamatar IV]

good memories:

Joining

People commenting about my easy to type name

starting Heren Istarion

Bad:

Being accused of spam :p

[Elbereth]

Ok my favorite memories were:

The Silver Dragon...(throwing Tal into a bottomless pit...hehehe...sorry girl!)

The Burning Dragon Singles Bar: (meeting Valar...making lots of new friends...introducing Hempdread)

The Festival of Taniquital: My first thread ...and a fun short party for all involved.

Elbereth and Valar's wedding: It was so beautiful! I couldn't have asked for a better wedding! (and the shock I got when I was not only given Governorship of the lands of Earhwesta, but also given Queenship of Gondor)

Hempdread's hot summer music festival: Good summer fun with friends!

I also could not forget the controversy and crazy late night chat sessions involved in the Ulairi scandal, as well as the Narya death conspiracy. I never knew so much drama could come out of an internet forum.

[Khamul]

Well, I was defending them, so there was at least someone. :(

[Arvedui]

Good things:
Finding the Forum (thanks Grond):)
Joining.
Learning new things about JRRT all the time.

Downside:
The false death of Narya.
Beeing caught on errors in discussions:rolleyes:

[Legolam]

Hmmm, my favourites:

Reading the board before I joined thinking that everyone really had too much time on their hands, then spending most of the next year posting here!

Having a food fight on one of my first threads

Not being able to express myself very well in Tolkien threads and having my posts pounced on by more experienced posters - I actually learnt a great deal

All the crazy "British Army" stuff, especially being hit on by Merry

Meeting up with Minas and taking him drinking in Edinburgh!

[Lantarion]

I was a part of the old forum, although I was not quite as active. A great day for me was when I heard that the Tolkien Forum had been reopened, and I rushed here and made it into the Top Ten first members! (I'm 9th). :D
Becoming a Mod not only firmly established my presence at this forum indefinately, but also flattered me but made me realize how little I knew about Tolkien in light of what I could know; so thanks for that, WM et al. :) (Also it's a fabulous excuse for deleting reandom posts on a whim, but you didn't hear it from me.) ;)
I personally liked the forum even more (if that's even possible) when there was under 200 members on the boards; now that small-town feel seems to have been lost for good, but the amount of serious contributers rises each day, so I'm not complaining (as long as their grammar is incontestably correct). :)
That's that for me.

Lanty

[Frodorocks]

Although Ulairi was nice to me, I agree that he was a jerk and I don't really want him back. The only reason he was nice to me was because I was fight with Wonko The Sane, who he apparantly didn't like. But on to better times: beating up Snaga in the Would you hit a women thread, talking to whole bunches of interesting people, making peace with Wonks, finding out that other people like rock climbing (you rock William Wallace, all of the hilarious jokes I've read, and playing around in the Hobbit's guild and Elves guild.:)

[Maedhros]

especially against banned members who have no defense against our bashing them here.
You are absolutely right. Only a coward takes a shot at someone who cannot defend him/herself.

[aragil]

Originally posted by Talierin
Aragil (I don't remember him, but that's ok

Youch! I joined the old boards before Talierin (I remember I've always wondered if that was meant to refer to Taliesin), and right after Ashaman upset everybody with his "What makes Tolkien so good?" thread.

Hmm, best thing in the past year- definitely the LotR movie, therefore discussing the FotR on these boards has been my favorite TTF experience from the last year.

Least favorite experience- watching Harad get banned.

[Talierin]

Hmm.... I must not have run into you much on the old board, cause you're still slipping my mind, hehehe... and no, my name has nothing to do with Taliesin. Any similarity is a complete coinkydink.

[Húrin Thalion]

I've only been here for a month but that is enough for me to decide.

The best things are: Joining, joining the guild of Tolkienology and meeting all of you!

Worst thing was: Dr. Ransom's reaction to one of my threads in the GOP.:(

Elen Carnë

[Asha'man]

Yay, I'm surprised so many people remember me from the old board. That was actually kinda fun. *evil grin* I actually was the one who gave you your beloved Tal, and indirectly Aerin. *bows* I guess the highlights of my time here are few (I'm not a really active member - you may've noticed that. I thought I noticed you noticing).

High points

My monster three-word-post thread :D

Politicking over guns and abortion with (mostly) daisy

Meeting Tal, Aerin, Morwen and Ciryaher in real life

Low points :(

warning points :mad:

Glorfindel, near the beginning of this forum (ten useless, totally non-redeemable points to those who remember what we fought about!)

Ash

(and my name abbreviated is Ash, not Asha :) )

[Lhunithiliel]

At first I checked in, but realized how little I knew about Tolkien. I had to read more ... so I did.

The real start:
Then, one day, I was reading through some sort of a discussion between Grond, Maedhros and Millena - having NO idea who these people were ;)
They were quoting like some c&p-machines and the topic needed more of imagination than pure facts. So I bursted in with sth. like " Hey, stop quoting! It's your imagination that is needed here!" :eek:

This is how I actually entered the forum.
Then came the polite offer to join a guild.
Then the Guild was transformed... or rather it "gave birth" to a new one and I was kindly asked to join the "baby". So I did and here I am.

My achievements:

Having met so many interesting people
Having learned so much about Tolkien
Having started creating Tolkien-inspired things
My "What if"-game

My future plans
My own guild! ;) :D

Thank you all for being around!
Lhun

Oh, BTW, I am the one with the name that is the most difficult to spelll :D..........Or, so they say ;)

And Anc, does NOW my signature satisfy your requirements ;) :D

[DGoeij]

I'm around for almost a year now. I joined shortly before the first movie came out, and am enjoying myself a lot. The amount I've learned about Middle Earth and Tolkien is amazing. The best memories I have here:
-Disagreeing with people who enjoy a civilized argument.
-Joining the Guild of Periaur
-Being cheered upon by an incredible number of people for posting: Your Fly, You Fool!

I have only one downside. I keep forgeting the names of people I have disagreed with or had pleasant conversations with. In real life there are faces to remember, down here, you have to remember the name, and I'm not very good at that.:rolleyes:

[Talierin]

Originally posted by Asha'man
Glorfindel, near the beginning of this forum (ten useless, totally non-redeemable points to those who remember what we fought about!)


Oh! Oh! I know! *bounces up and down* It was that weapons thread, right? Something about a blow gun, I believe.

[Asha'man]

And Talierin hits it spot-on! It was about blowguns, and he thought he actually knew things. :rolleyes: Couldn't compare to cold, hard facts, folks. :cool:

Ash

[Ciryaher]

I don't talk about banned members behind their backs, because I insult Ulairi to his face ;)...but that's another matter, and no, he won't be coming back (although at one point he had a chance, which he blew).

Wow, so many memories...I'll have to hold off on that and add them to my post later. Been here quite a while, and I've got plenty to say :D

[Eliot]

Just a quick question. When was Ulairi banned? I must not have been here when he was, because I had never heard of him until a little while ago.

[Talierin]

Middle of June.... and a couple more times after that, heh...

[Ciryaher]

Let's see...in just this past year we've had quite a few things happen! The first bannings based on member behaviour occured, and with the large population, there has been a bit more friction between members than there was before. New sections have been added, including the Guilds, which have been a great success! Planet Coruscant has opened and closed several times (please people, if you like Star Wars, come to Planet Coruscant (http://www.planetcoruscant.com) because we need more people!). We've also added a lot more moderators, and will soon be adding more, before Year's End! The Forum has seen ups and downs in member participation, but since this summer has passed, I think we have generally been busier (except the RPG section, which has only been soso).

At the very end of the year, I'll have more to add, but for now, that about covers it :)

[Ancalagon]

Hmmm, lot's of memories to record!!!

Moderator Relations;

1. First appearing on the old board and getting told off by Cir for swearing (like an Irishman;) ) and then starting to tow the line like a good boy!

2. Periodically arguing with ReadWryt only to discover a year later that he was actually right:)

3. Singing Christmas Carols last year with Kem and Tal, usually while intoxicated.

4. Meeting Grond for the first time on MSM and laughing out loud so much I woke my wife!

5. RD and Lanty's inauguration as Mods, the board is a better place for it;)

6. Webmaster putting up with me over the past few months and being patient with my constant demands, ideas and dumb@$$ mistakes:)

Member Relations and General Board Stuff

1. Sorry to see both Harad and Ulairi banned from the boards, but know the reasons why.

2. Meeting Gothmog, Maedhros, Sting, Walter, Turgon, Aerin, Morwen to name but a few.

3. Meeting everyone else, especially those of us who congregate on MSM to talk gibberish most of the night:D

4. Setting up The Guild of Ost-in-Edhil and all those who participate in their own time...........in the Shady Pines.

5. Arguing with members about post-counts, spam and pointless posts for the last 12 months, and still holding the greatest affection for every one of them. Trying to reach a happy-medium in ensuring this is a 'TolkienForum' while retaining a sense of community....tricky;)

6. The division between the NPWs and the FADs.

7. Bugging Goro all year, but have the greatest admiration and respect for him!

8. Watching the forum develop and grow into the best site on the net:D

Low Points

1. The Narya Hoax.

2. Problems with LOTROnline.

3. Inadvertently deleting most of The Writer's Threads, while trying to remove 3 'directional' threads.

Future Hopes

1. Seeing some of the ideas for the forum come to fruition.

2. Being part of this ever-increasing and wonderful community.

I am sure there is a lot more, but I think this will do:)

[legoman]

Wow, nearly a year.
Lets se good things:

Meeting loads of peopleI know call friends.
The whole british(+anyone else) army escapades
The humerous bombadillions
Going with tookish to meet up with Merry in cambridge
Finding people who actually laugh at my jokes

heck theres loads of stuff, its just cool I've found a place I can hang out at and talk to cool people (whilst I should be doing uni work)

hmmmm, Bring on the next year.

[Ice Man]

Which problems are these with LOTRonline you people mention?

[Khamul]

It's over now at least. No bad blood needs to be brought up.:(

[HLGStrider]

You know I think we should move this thread to member announcements or something... it's too good to be in SB... and too relevent.

[Talierin]

Good suggestion, Elgee, it be moved!

[HLGStrider]

gosh... aren't I powerful?

Nice Avatar by the way. Too bad I never got my game working... sigh...