I agree with a lot of what's already been said (even though I don't participate in the RPGs, I find them very entertaining to observe, when I have a chance). Finding a LotR forum in which both intelligent discussion and intelligent humor were common and Peter Jackson is not worshiped as God was, I thought, impossible. I have dearly loved LotR for most of my life, and while it had a profound influence on me, I also enjoy poking fun at it (having a firm belief that a certain amount of irreverent humor is necessary for one's sanity; God invented humor, after all
). I love the fact that in a serious discussion here, people can suddenly find humor in it, discuss that for a bit, and then go back to the main discussion without being chided for haring "off-topic" (which, on other forums, usually results in a long off-topic argument about what constitutes OT). I never get a sense of "class structure" here, the feeling that people who have been around longer or have a bazillion posts somehow feel themselves superior to those who don't post as much or haven't been members as long. There's no hazing of the newbies, and no cliques that I can perceive. The cliques are a major part of what drove me away from sites like tORn (and Morth, as a former tORn admin, I couldn't agree more about the signature limits
). There is a sense of easy acceptance here, that all are equal as fans of what we all love, in our own ways -- a diversity that is accepted, not broken into little splinter groups. Something to be thankful for, to me.