Board Question

[JesTheJade]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Haunting Spirit
Posts: 51</TD><TD><img src=http://www.geocities.com/monopatino/39mini.jpg WIDTH=60 HEIGHT=60></TD></TR></TABLE>
I just made a new board and am having trouble with my banner. Where did you store yours? I didn't have anywhere to put mine, so I whipped up a geocities site and threw it on there. It took forever to download when going to the site, so I took it off for the time being. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Feel free to drop by (and I don't mean to advertise, Ron...believe me, it's nothing to write home about), don't expect much, though...as I really JUST started it. But if you do drop by, please say hello on one of the forums! Thanks!
(Amon Hen is my site)

Jes

I usually watch over <a href=http://www.barrowdowns.com>The Barrow Downs</a> and <a href=http://pub28.ezboard.com/bamonhen>Amon Hen</a>.

<a href=mailto:GrahamTheGrey@aol.com>GrahamTheGrey@ao l.com</a></p>

[The Barrow-Wight]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wraith of Angmar
Posts: 1359</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
Re: Board Question

I store the banner and all graphics for this forum at the site for this forum http://www.barrowdowns.comwww.barrowdowns.com</a>. Geocities and other free servers are often slow and don't like to be used as graphics storage houses, but aside from buying space on a better server they're probably the best you got.

Lemme check out your forum and then I'll come back here and comment some more.

The Barrow-Wight (RKittle)
<font size="2">I usually haunt http://www.barrowdowns.comThe Barrow-Downs</a> and The Barrow-Downs http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgiMiddle-Earth Discussion Board</a>.</p>

[The Barrow-Wight]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wraith of Angmar
Posts: 1360</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
Tolkien Boards

I thought I'd take some time to talk about Tolkien web pages and discussion boards.

Over the last year, and especially in the last couple months, I've noticed that the number of Tolkien web pages and discussion boards has been growing. As the fan base grows, the number of resources on the web naturally expands also. But lately I've been seeing a trend in discussion boards, EZboards specifically, that I find somewhat disturbing.

Tolkien fans are spreading out rather than congregating.

Everyone is starting a Tolkien board.

The problem I see with this is, of course, from the perspective of the Barrow-Downs (though it applies everywhere). This is not a complaint, just a concern.

Productive, interesting board members, for whatever reason, decide that an EZboard might be fun to run (they are!) and, being Tolkien fans, they naturally open a board about their favorite author. They put a lot of effort into it and work hard to make it interesting. But usually they are soon disappointed when they fail to drive a decent amount of traffic to the board. Within months, most of these boards fail.

Nothing wrong with any of this. The Barrow-Downs started out slow, too. It's taken over four months to get to 122 registered members and 5000+ posts. But the Barrow-Downs also started out with a relatively popular web site (www.barrowdowns.com) so it was easy for me to get the word out about the board.

The problem I am seeing is that each new board that starts up takes away one or more good members from the Downs. Perhaps it doesn't make them leave altogher, but an admin will want to put his/her best material their own board, to the Downs misses out on their input. And when I say the Downs i don't mean me (The Barrow-Wight). I mean the 122 members of the Downs. Everyone loses a little.

Now, some people like to go around to different boards - seeing what's going on at each one. And some people don't like the Downs. Perhaps it is to academic or serious. But that's where the problem (as I see it) can be solved and the Tolkien fans can come back together.

If you (and this is addressed to everyone, not just Jes) want to run an EZboard for the fun of running a board, cool! But if you are opening a new board because you find something lacking at the Downs, speak up. Suggestions are welcome. Don't spread yourself (and Tolkien fans) thin. Let's build the Down's to be a bigger, better place.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I'm seeing this from the perspective of the admin of The Barrow-Downs. But I'm also seeing it as Tolkien fan. I feel that this board is a great one, but could always be better. I also feel that the members here are some of the best spoken and best mannered on the net. That's what make the place great. It my favorite board because of that (not because it's run by me).

Please tell me your thoughts on this subject....

I am also posting this in THE BOOKS forum...

Thanks


The Barrow-Wight (RKittle)
<font size="2">I usually haunt http://www.barrowdowns.comThe Barrow-Downs</a> and The Barrow-Downs http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgiMiddle-Earth Discussion Board</a>.</p>

[JesTheJade]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Haunting Spirit
Posts: 53</TD><TD><img src=http://www.geocities.com/monopatino/39mini.jpg WIDTH=60 HEIGHT=60></TD></TR></TABLE>
Re: Tolkien Boards

First of all, I just want to say that I love Barrow Downs. I had wandered around from site to site, including 25 Hobbits, Entmoot, The Old Forest, The White Council, Bag End...and so on and so forth. When I found Barrow Downs, I stopped wandering. I don't really know exactly what it is about it, except that there are a lot of people here and there are a handful of them that post on a daily basis, but I liked it.

So, yes...I started a discussion board...I guess without to much thought. I just kinda noticed that I had the option and went for it. I don't plan on really following through (though my brother wants us to actually make an Amon Hen site, which may or may not happen), but just thought it would be fun.

The LAST thing I want to do is take away from any kind of activity at Barrow Downs (not that I am so bold to think that would happen, anyway). I mean, I consider Barrow Downs my home on the net (it's actually my home page) and I almost get frustrated sitting around at work, waiting for people to respond to something or to answer a quote (which, btw, hasn't been touched for 3 days). And that is not to say anything, except that I really enjoy my time here and can't really get enough.

Also, there is nothing I would change about Barrow Downs, I think it is awesome the way it is! I most definately made Amon Hen just for the fun of running a board, not because I think I can do better. NOT BY A LONG RUN!! So, Ron, I understand your concern and share it. One thing I did not want to do was contribute to it. I also think that we Tolkien fans should be more congregated than spread out.

So, with that said, on to a lighter note. I don't know if this can be done, but I just thought of something that at least I think would be cool. You know of all the different fonts out there for Dwarf runes, Cirth, and Tengwar. Is there anyway to write in a different font in a post? Using HTML maybe? And if you did, would someone else who doesn't have the font be able to read it? I think it would be cool to have a section where people try their hand at typing and reading the different runes. Granted, most of it's not too hard, but it would be fun. This might not even be a possibility, but it would be SWEET if possible. The study of all the assorted types of runes has been one of the most enjoyable things for me while reading Tolkien. Just a thought.

Okay, this has gotten way too long, I should get like 5 posts just for this ONE. Anyway, sorry about the whole discussion board thing and I know you weren't talking to just me. And you can count on me being at Barrow Downs far beyond reaching that 500 post mark!

I will also post this in the BOOKS section.

Jes

I usually watch over <a href=http://www.barrowdowns.com>The Barrow Downs</a> and <a href=http://pub28.ezboard.com/bamonhen>Amon Hen</a>.

<a href=mailto:GrahamTheGrey@aol.com>GrahamTheGrey@ao l.com</a></p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000050>JesTheJa de</A>&nbsp; <IMG SRC=http://www.ezboard.com/ezgfx/gicons/anim_1.gif BORDER=0 WIDTH=10 HEIGHT=10> at: 9/28/00 12:22:10 pm

[JesTheJade]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Haunting Spirit
Posts: 54</TD><TD><img src=http://www.geocities.com/monopatino/39mini.jpg WIDTH=60 HEIGHT=60></TD></TR></TABLE>
Re: Tolkien Boards

I just noticed that I'm a Haunting Spirit!! Yay!

Jes

I usually watch over <a href=http://www.barrowdowns.com>The Barrow Downs</a> and <a href=http://pub28.ezboard.com/bamonhen>Amon Hen</a>.

<a href=mailto:GrahamTheGrey@aol.com>GrahamTheGrey@ao l.com</a></p>