Why do you love the Downs?

[The Might]

Firstly, let me start by saying that I hope that this topic will be accepted and that it was a proper thing to post it in this forum. I first thought about Mirth, but then again usually just funny/comical stuff goes in there and I actually plan to make this a serious thread with a serious discussion and honest answers.

Secondly, let us get to the topic at hand and to the main question - why do you love the BD as a forum?, what makes it special for you?, why do you return to post here?

I expect a wide range of answers and motivations and am actually quite curious to see what others think.

Also: you can also mention any temporal development, if such a thing occured for you, so different reasons depending on which period of time is concerned.

And finally, as said above, let's keep this serious, so no stupid jokes. Then again I don't expect any here anyways - hey, that may be a reason for coming here too!


And because it would only be fair for me to start, here is why I like the Downs so much.
At first it was mostly just a place to test my lore knowledge and find out more information about M-e. So I enjoyed the Quiz Room, and lore discussions in the Books forum, anything that could help learn more about Tolkien's universe.
Afterwards, I became acquinted with more and more members, made friends here and so also posted more often in Mirth threads, socialised more.
At the moment, I guess I try to do both. I still like lore, but I also keep in mind that there are other real people behind the screen names and I am happy to be able to talk to them here on the Downs.
So yeah, that's pretty much why I like the BD, your turn now!