[Ithaeliel]

After sifting through the oldest topics on the board in most of the forums, I can see what Feanaro was talking about. It's sad to see how much the quality of the Downs board has deteriorated, even after I joined almost half a year ago. Now The Books forum is speckled with recycled old discussions and topics that really do not make one think. Perhaps some of this is because people have dried up the topic stream, but some of it is also because people do not bother to look things up or don't think about what they are posting before they post it. Why, even the N&N forum used to have many enjoyable and relevant discussions that I liked to participate in, but now it is filled with "Hi I'm new" threads, and I rarely visit it. As Tigerlily said, it's not that I don't like newbies; I welcome them and hope that they contribute their insight to the Downs, but it is sometimes easier to, as I did, just jump right in and don't look for a welcoming committee.
Even the Movies is cluttered with "I hate Arwen" or "Orli is HOTT" threads. The Freestyle RPG room has a few one-line-RPer threads and is losing its Tolkien feel. The Barrow-Downs is the one that I see has changed the least, as the admins usually prowl about here.
If my criticism of the board's deterioration seems a bit harsh, forgive me; I do not intend to offend anyone, and I certainly hope that I do not contribute to the changes for the worse that have taken place here.