[Reyna Evergreen]

I would also like to put in a few words.

Around one year ago I was caught in the Tolkien craze largely due to the upcoming movies based on the "incredible" series of books, Lord Of The Rings. I had read maybe half of The Fellowship Of The Ring (already half a book more than my entire school put together...) and was insanely obbsessed with the beautiful on-screen faces I saw for the movie trailer. This I admit.

I took up a search online to find a site where I could learn more about this new "phenomenon" and put in my share. Randomly, I clicked the link on the page titled "The Barrowdowns". That was one year ago this November. Never before had I seen, a year ago, so many people involved with a book...ever. The chat was full, and the Forum was in it's prime. People all over the world came here to talk about one thing that we all loved. I tried to find other sites to even compare to this. Result: none. Another thing made me stick: they were friendly.

Since then, I have finished the series and read the Silmarillion, but the Barrowdowns is still an active part of my life.

I am still a newbie, and frankly, I'm proud of it. But it pains me to hear that some of the older members are upset about the wave of newer people who have been introduced to these extraodinary books largely due to the advertisement of the movie.

I would like to say that I agree with Bethberry that chances and much patience are needed to have us here, but we need chances to prove ourselves. But I'd like to argue with the person saying that newer members should not be here.

Without new members, it takes away the spice and essence of a Forum. Sure there'll be the odd idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about, or another who posts a bunch of nonesence advertisement, but it also brings in a new wave of intelligent individuals too. So maybe most of the topics, questions and quote have been discussed? The newer people may bring in interesting new facts, or add on to the older questions. It really forms a circle; the originals discuss, newbies come in and join into the threads, then more come in and un-bury the older ones.

So I would like to give my gratitude towards the older members; without you guys, we wouldn't be here. And most of us wouldn't have stayed, because the Downs would have been just another Fanatic site. Now it's a community of over 4 000 members.