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Aerlinn
Lorien


Mar 4 2007, 10:54pm

Post #1 of 56 (1934 views)
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How do you see TORn? Can't Post

This is a subject that's come up now and then, most recently as one of the first threads in the brand new Reading Room; how do you envision the boards of TheOneRing.net?

We've got ten boards now (11 if you count the Welcome board, which I do - it's sort of a foyer, I think. With a huge welcome mat. And a "you are here" map. And a stack of instruction booklets/guidebooks.):
Main
The Reading Room
Movie Discussion
The Arena
Gaming and Collecting
Fan Art
Off Topic
The Pollantir
TORn Moots
Feedback

Obviously Main had a big bar and a swimming pool, but that's moved over, so now OT has, in my mind, a huge wooden bar - I was thinking Cheers-style,
but perhaps more like my other favorite bar, Callahan's Place. I don't know what Main looks like now... RR has, naturally, books as far as the eye can see, and I opt for big comfy couches and good but not obtrusive lighting. Fan Art is a vast gallery. The Pollantir contains old-style voting booths, and also tables where the topics can be discussed.

So, how about you? How do you see the individual boards, and TORn as a whole?


TheOneRing.net – where everybody knows your name!
And J.R.R. Tolkien’s middle names… and the name of his publisher’s son … and the name of Aragorn’s great-great-great- grandfather on his mother’s side… and what Frodo’s name almost was…

285.98


Penthe
Gondor


Mar 5 2007, 12:23am

Post #2 of 56 (1615 views)
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With my eyes open, of course. [In reply to] Can't Post

I imagine the reading room as very comfy, filled with books and people sitting and chatting, reading and occasionally haranguing each other, while others flutter about wondering whether they should intervene or not.

Main seems to me to be an old-style forum or market place where people of all kinds come together in shared citizenship to talk about something important to them, and also fundamentally important to the fabric of our little civilisation here.

Off-topic, then, would be the places that we all adjourn to after doing the serious (or not so serious) business in the forum. Maybe a big pub, or a coffee-shop with a nice outdoor courtyard and so on. The reading room definitely allows snacks, though, and may be one of those enlightened libraries with a cafe attached.

The pollantir reminds me more of the stock exchange than anything else - everyone rushing about, shouting and waving their hands to get attention. In the nicest possible way, of course.

I don't really go to the other places much. They have the mystique of the boy's toilets, but much less smelly. I hope.


Annael
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 2:04am

Post #3 of 56 (1574 views)
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I pretty much agree with that [In reply to] Can't Post

except to me the Reading Room has become more like a classroom with rather demanding professors examining your answer for thoroughness and logical flaws (compared to how it started out, anyhoo).

“For the record, I am not a nut. I am an optimist. That’s exactly like a nut except with a better attitude.”
- Scott Adams



NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


GaladrielTX
Tol Eressea


Mar 5 2007, 2:15am

Post #4 of 56 (1598 views)
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I've noticed that. [In reply to] Can't Post

Having taken a TORN break for a long time, I was in for a surprise when I returned there. It used to be much more supportive and informal, not to mention that it didn't take ten minutes to read a post. Well, I guess the regulars there certainly have the right to make of the forum whatever they want. I can't exactly complain since it was me who abandoned TORN.

~~~~~~~~

I used to be GaladrielTX, but my TX ran away with the dish, the spoon, and my modding powers.



a.s.
Valinor


Mar 5 2007, 4:39am

Post #5 of 56 (1585 views)
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hmmm. Feels like home, to me [In reply to] Can't Post

I don't find the RR is like "a classroom with rather demanding professors examining your answer for thoroughness and logical flaws", and I don't find it "unsupportive". And having just engaged in a modding war on the old boards just for the fun of it, I don't find it terribly "formal", either.

Smile

Of course, I wasn't there in the beginning and have only been a "regular" since 2004. And I certainly right now and publicly would like to apologize if I ever made anyone feel "unsupported" in my responses to anyone.

As for responses that examine other responses for "logical flaws": some people just have this personal style in conversation, and while it might be irritating to some, it's not personal or vindictive in intent. But believe me, if someone is answering a post in the RR seriously and looking for errors in logic or questioning assumptions or conclusions it really means only one thing: someone has read what someone else wrote closely, treated the response seriously, and tried to come up with a good response in return. In other words, they pay the poster a sort of compliment.

I understand the RR isn't for everyone, but a lot of us still like it quite a bit and look forward to being there every day, and I really wish anyone who hasn't been visiting won't be discouraged by these two posts and will give us a try now and then.

a.s.

"an seileachan"

Everybody's wondering what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worried 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
No one knows for certain, and so it's all the same to me:
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
~~~~Iris DeMent


Penthe
Gondor


Mar 5 2007, 5:03am

Post #6 of 56 (1543 views)
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Yep, what she said. [In reply to] Can't Post

While the conversation can be vigorous at times, it's usually just invigorating. I don't find it any more rigorous or difficult than the discussions in Movie, when I visit in there (very occasionally). I guess that's just because I feel more relaxed talking about books than movies.

I do know that the RR is a lot more forgiving of people going off topic and getting a little (or a lot) silly than most other book discusison lists I've ever taken part in.


dernwyn
Forum Admin / Moderator


Mar 5 2007, 5:14am

Post #7 of 56 (1558 views)
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Main is like a parlor. [In reply to] Can't Post

With lots of chairs and tables on a rug of Middle-earth, built-in bookshelves containing a collection similar to that in the Reading Room/Library (but not as extensive), and the LotR soundtrack and other related recordings playing softly in the background.

Some others:

Movie is a combination home theater/study: there are several stations set up with DVD players with wide-screen monitors, each surrounded by semicircles of comfy chairs.

The Arena is the "exercise" room, with plenty of mats and training equipment.

Gaming and Collecting is similar to a rec room, with chairs surrounding tables large enough to spread out cards and collections, and walls lined with display shelves, and large-screen computer displays for connecting to online games.

TORn Moots is a communication center with a huge calendar and maps all over.

Feedback - would this be the kitchen? Wink


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...


Magpie
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 5:20am

Post #8 of 56 (1523 views)
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thanks... [In reply to] Can't Post


Quote
Movie is a combination home theater/study: there are several stations set up with DVD players with wide-screen monitors, each surrounded by semicircles of comfy chairs.

I needed an image other than a boy's bathroom in my head! ;P




no longer just aMagpie... I'm now *the* Magpie


diedye
Grey Havens


Mar 5 2007, 5:22am

Post #9 of 56 (1568 views)
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Like the first week of college... [In reply to] Can't Post

They give you a map, but there's been renovations, so you think your course is in the Main campus is really in the Off Topic one, so by the time you get to the right one, all the good seats are taken. The dorms are co-ed, but you're not sure what's worse... getting a female room-mate that borrows your clothes without asking or a male room-mate who looks better than you do in that Galadriel costume you brought for Halloween ( L-l).

Then there are the cliques. If you don't meet the right people right away, you're doomed to spend the rest of your academic life trying to get an in with the "IN" crowd, while secretly sneaking into the Nerds' Reading Room" so you won't miss this week's session of "How to Fake Superiority the Elven Way".

After a week of following the wrong people to the wrong classes and ending up mistakenly enrolling in "Anatomy 101: Dwarven Physiology - How to Tell the Difference Between a Pregnancy and a Beer-Gut", you finally start to get the hang of it.

That is, until you try memorizing people's names. Familiarity goes right out the window when the people you thought you knew suddenly decide to change their monikers. So now you're a little apprehensive 'cause a gal named Ayaediran is suddenly looking a lot like a certifiable vampire, Eomer's Woman has apparently watched too many Star Wars movies and thinks she's a Jedi hobbit, an erather who seems to think she's a virgin queen, and... well... I could go on but there's some lunatic at the door trying to sell me these ugly campaign buttons for some guy who's decided to run for King of the Sandwiches (ugh... I've tasted those sandwiches and lemme tell ya... GASTRO does NOT stand for Gastronomy... *BURP!* Oof!). He calls the buttons "smilies", but after getting dowsed with virtual ice water from irate posters, I think he'll change his tune real soon.

*phhhhh* I think I'll stop there... I'm getting indigestion... must be the troll I had left over from old TORn.



Finding Frodo
Tol Eressea


Mar 5 2007, 5:29am

Post #10 of 56 (1541 views)
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It's funny [In reply to] Can't Post

Diedye, with that happy little dog puppet avatar, anything you post seems like a cheery howdy-do!

Where's Frodo?


Annael
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 6:18am

Post #11 of 56 (1540 views)
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All I am saying [In reply to] Can't Post

is that the atmosphere is very different from how it was when we started it, where people mostly just talked off the top of their heads about what they thought without citing chapter and verse of Vol. IX of HOME, etc.

Idril Celebrindal was the first to put up a long post with lots of researched information and multiple questions, and at the time we all went ". . . wow. What a lot of work you put into that!" because it was so different from how people started threads before. Now, it's the norm. Nothing wrong with that - but I think it does winnow out people who don't have the time or the inclination for that approach.

“For the record, I am not a nut. I am an optimist. That’s exactly like a nut except with a better attitude.”
- Scott Adams



NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


silneldor
Half-elven


Mar 5 2007, 11:42am

Post #12 of 56 (1513 views)
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The things i feel [In reply to] Can't Post

from main is that it is in a clearing amidst tall trees somewhere in ME.

The reading room feels kind of closed in and i feel like i am trying to look out the windows.

The arena and the gaming places i have little draw to but i imagine the sound of hundreds of video game and pinball machines.

Fan Art is a picture and a picture by word tour in a open aired pavilion on a mountain in Ithilien.

Off topic has a feel something like the Greendragon with the door open and i can see the going by happenings on the road.

The pollantir i see voting machines in a barn in Hobbiton.

Feedback is a room filled with life preservers by the Hobbiton Pool.

I still feel i am trying to recover from a MASH bugout with the new TORn. There are a lot of good things here. Just have to let everything over time feel like home again.

"Tolkien, like Lewis, believed that, through story, the real world would become a more magical place, full of meaning. We see its patterns and colors in a fresh way. The recovery of a true view of the world applies both to individual things, like hills and stones, and to the cosmic - the depths of space and time itself. For in sub-creation, in Tolkien's view, there is a "survey" of space and time. Reality is captured on a miniature scale. Through stories like The Lord of the Rings, a renewed view of things is given, illuminating the homely, the spiritial, the physical, and the moral dimensions of the world."

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis- The Gift of Friendship -Duriez


The magnificent beech


a.s.
Valinor


Mar 5 2007, 12:07pm

Post #13 of 56 (1549 views)
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like a hometown university campus [In reply to] Can't Post

Close to home---even though mom and dad sprang for room and board so you can stay in the dorm for a taste of "college life".

--Main is the giant auditorium/classroom where all the biggest classes meet (Psych 101; Intro to American Lit, etc), with a prof who likes segues and sidebars, as long as they stick roughly to the subject matter!
--OT is the student union lounge spilling over into the nearby pub
--RR is, of course, the library, which has recently undergone extensive renovations and now has comfy chairs and reading nooks, including the conference meeting room with a big table and swivelly-chairs for discussion purposes.
--Movie is the Cinema-Cafe the university has recently upgraded, and now lends itself not only to watching movies in comfort and with a mug or sandwich, but has great acoustics so they can bring up the lights at the end for talking about the movie screened.
--Arena are those new raquetball courts they have put in there next to the gym
--Fan Art is the small conference room off the beautiful Aministration Entry Hall, the hall with all the lovely art work displayed
--Gaming and Collecting is the room in the "Computer Science" department where the gamers and computer geeks congregate, with lots of data ports and things that Administration doesn't REALLY need to know about, do they? Wink
--Pollantir is the virtual room the university put up for students to log in and voice their opinions!
--Moots is the real bricks-and-mortor bulletin board outside the Book Store where all the announcements go
--Feedback is the Administrative Secretary's office-but on this campus, Admin really does "get back to" you!


...and just like in real life, sometimes you just have to leave the campus and go about other business. But your dorm room is still reserved and there's still a table (or raquetball court) waiting for you in your favorite place when you return.

a.s.

"an seileachan"

Everybody's wondering what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worried 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
No one knows for certain, and so it's all the same to me:
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
~~~~Iris DeMent


Draupne
Forum Admin / Moderator

Mar 5 2007, 1:06pm

Post #14 of 56 (1543 views)
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Well, in recent years [In reply to] Can't Post

someone seems to have been putting up big clocks everywhere, to make sure that half of TORN freaks out when they don't get their weekly threads. Stupid clocks. Will blow them up one day and take it back to the time when most of those threads where posted when someone felt like it. We used to do those posts before they became weekly, but it makes it too much like a class-room that you know which new threads will be there when you log on. *grumble grumble*

Admin is of course much nicer than all the other boards, better chairs, better bar, better ice-cream and tons of chocolate and a place where you can practice your favourite troll-killing skills. (sword, arrow, spear, dart, pop-tarts, delete button etc). Or was that one of the things we weren't supposed to tell? :-)

Some times when I checked in on Gaming on the old boards (Ye Olde Boards?) I got the feeling of entering a strange and not very heavily populated world. Maybe a bit like a tourist in Norway actually. *stares at Gaming and Collecting* It's a bit the same here, the "Do people actually live here" feeling isn't quite the same though since we know whether something is posted or not without going there.

Fan art, hmmm. *remembers walking through the art gallery in Chicago with some more or less insane people from here* Yeah, that's about it. Except for the Dali painting. We wouldn't want that on TORN.


GaladrielTX
Tol Eressea


Mar 5 2007, 1:29pm

Post #15 of 56 (1557 views)
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Apologies. [In reply to] Can't Post

I reread my post right after posting it. It came across more negative in tone than I'd intended, and I deleted it (or so I thought). After the ten-minute window had passed, I noticed it was still there.

If the two people who responded to me consent, I'd appreciate it if an admin would delete it.

~~~~~~~~

I used to be GaladrielTX, but my TX ran away with the dish, the spoon, and my modding powers.



GaladrielTX
Tol Eressea


Mar 5 2007, 1:32pm

Post #16 of 56 (1517 views)
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Isn't that the truth! [In reply to] Can't Post

It really does give her posts a different tone from everyone else's.

~~~~~~~~

I used to be GaladrielTX, but my TX ran away with the dish, the spoon, and my modding powers.



(This post was edited by Galadriel on Mar 5 2007, 1:33pm)


Aerlinn
Lorien


Mar 5 2007, 1:50pm

Post #17 of 56 (1544 views)
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But - but - - [In reply to] Can't Post

"It used to be much more supportive and informal, not to mention that it didn't take ten minutes to read a post."

I was going to "mod you up"! You make me all wistful for a part of TORn I never saw. RR is a closed circle, with no patience for anyone who gives the vibe of "outsider" or "Main regular"... Or maybe just with me...

Oh, lord, I shouldn't start that again. I'll go shut up in the corner now...


TheOneRing.net – where everybody knows your name!
And J.R.R. Tolkien’s middle names… and the name of his publisher’s son … and the name of Aragorn’s great-great-great- grandfather on his mother’s side… and what Frodo’s name almost was…

290.53


Annael
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 3:16pm

Post #18 of 56 (1522 views)
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Maybe we need [In reply to] Can't Post

A "high school" version of the Reading Room where one can get away without doing one's homework?

“For the record, I am not a nut. I am an optimist. That’s exactly like a nut except with a better attitude.”
- Scott Adams



NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


grammaboodawg
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 3:21pm

Post #19 of 56 (1495 views)
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I get lost in all of these rooms!!! [In reply to] Can't Post

But I'll stumble along and see what I can find :)

Main - the Green Dragon
The Reading Room - Rivendell library
Movie Discussion - The Great Hall
The Arena - Anywhere Lobelia is
Gaming and Collecting - Anywhere Pippin is
Fan Art - Lothlorien
Off Topic - Emyn Muil
The Pollantir - Again with Pippin... names of all the stars!
TORn Moots - Field of Cormallen
Feedback - Middle-earth's help desk or any dwarf you can find. They're very opinionated ;)


sample sample
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!

"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."


TORn's Observations Lists


Ciars
Rohan


Mar 5 2007, 3:33pm

Post #20 of 56 (1530 views)
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So many rooms! [In reply to] Can't Post

Like you I see the welcome as the front porch / lobby - Main is Central perk from friends to me, a place for us to gather and chat about general lotr stuff - with a mini bar for those who want something stronger!, off topic is like a holiday hotel, with lots of comfy chairs, tables where you come in and be serious about other issues or curl up on a chair by a fire and simply chat and have fun with other sibs, the reading room is like a library/lecture /tutorial room where there is a definite focus! However all the rooms have a magic carpet that lets you in and out of everywhere else!



May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.


Aerlinn
Lorien


Mar 5 2007, 3:36pm

Post #21 of 56 (1523 views)
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Heh - [In reply to] Can't Post

I *did* my homework when I posted. That was the problem.

Now that I think of it, I was invisible in high school, too...


TheOneRing.net – where everybody knows your name!
And J.R.R. Tolkien’s middle names… and the name of his publisher’s son … and the name of Aragorn’s great-great-great- grandfather on his mother’s side… and what Frodo’s name almost was…

290.53


weaver
Half-elven

Mar 5 2007, 4:49pm

Post #22 of 56 (1533 views)
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TORN used to feel like one place to me... [In reply to] Can't Post

I feel like we've moved from one home with three rooms on the first floor (movie, main, RR) and an attic (feedback) and a basement (arena), into a complete community, with each lots of places side by side.

Now, each board feels like a building in itself -- they each have several "rooms" you can go into.

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you! It's like we outgrew our house, and founded a whole town called TORN, with 11 different buildings to go in and out of, each with their own charms.

I see it kind of like Bree:

Welcome -- the Front Gate, complete with two different windows for the guard to open, one for regulars, one for newbies

Main -- a small Pub, that specializes in Tolkien food and drink

The Reading Room -- a University Library, with lots of comfy chairs, a big fireplace, helpful librarians, and many shelves of fascinating things to read

Movie Discussion -- a Theater, where performances are staged and critiqued

The Arena -- a big Playing Field, where you can do jousting!

Gaming and Collecting -- the Fairgrounds, where you can buy and sell many things, or engage in different games of chance

Fan Art -- an Artist's Guild with a gallery

Off Topic -- the Great Hall, where all kinds of food and drink are served and many different events are held

The Pollantir -- the Court Room, where jury trials are held!

TORn Moots -- the Inn, where people meet up from different places

Feedback -- the Town Hall, where you can go to talk to local officials


That's how I see it, anyway!

Fun question, thanks for asking it!

Weaver


Eowyn of Penns Woods
Valinor


Mar 5 2007, 4:53pm

Post #23 of 56 (1511 views)
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For me [In reply to] Can't Post

it was often the feeling of having done the homework, but showing up only to discover that I was the only one who hadn't known that there was an 'approved' list of outside reference materials.
I wasn't comfortable enough to say that I thought Renowned Tolkien Scholar X,Y,or Z was certainly qualified to publish his/her expert opinion on Subject A, but had seemingly stepped outside that field of expertise on Subject B...and IMO, off the deep end of UUT. I didn't feel that my own theories would be worth anything if they weren't based on the opinions of the 'right' people...or worse, disagreed with those experts.

Not saying that anybody ever actually said anything like that. It's just how I felt a lot of the time. Right or wrong, feelings are feelings.
I really enjoyed some of the discussions, but others involved the kind of analysis that drives me nuts. I'd have to leave, since I couldn't really expect the RR regulars to stop enjoying themselves for my sake. I'm not above popping in and knocking a skeleton/dropping a stone down the well, though... ;) It's the Took in me. =)

(This post was edited by Eowyn of Penns Woods on Mar 5 2007, 4:54pm)


White Gull
Lorien


Mar 5 2007, 6:12pm

Post #24 of 56 (1479 views)
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You're quite right about that. [In reply to] Can't Post

I love the RR, but I rarely post. I used too, when I was more ignorant. Now that I'm smarter I just read. I do throw a comment out now and then, sometimes just for laughs (my own, of course.) It was quite fun the few times I actually had something intelligent to say and had a discussion. I do feel at times, like Bilbo must have occasionaly in the Hall of Fire, like when an Elf made the comment, "Hobbits must be interesting to other Hobbits." (Paraphrase mine, hee hee.) But I love it there. I learn lots, and have been moved to write several of my poems by comments made in there. Thank you. Don't let the intimidation some of us feel offend you. I, at least, am intimidated in awe.

WG


Annael
Immortal


Mar 5 2007, 7:31pm

Post #25 of 56 (1457 views)
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I'm not intimidated [In reply to] Can't Post

I just don't have the time.

“For the record, I am not a nut. I am an optimist. That’s exactly like a nut except with a better attitude.”
- Scott Adams



NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967

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