Best Thread of 2005

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Well, a happy New Year to all.
2005 is over. Forget about it! Stop living in the past! But before you do that, I think we should pay tribute to the wonderful topics this year has seen. As always, the Barrow Wight and his staff have kept everything in order and the Forum has continued gracefully.

So, what has been the most memorable 2005 Barrow Downs moment? What thread caught you're eye? Did any rivalries break out over who took Reputation top spot?

Just to get things in prospective, here are all the top threads in each section of the Downs. Happy New Year!

Top Threads at the end of 2005:

Books:
Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? = 853 Posts

Novice and Newcomers:
NEW MEMBERS - INTRODUCE YOURSELF HERE (Part 3) = 1,986 Posts

The Movies:
Support Group for...RETURN OF THE KING = 417 Posts

Quiz Room:
20 Questions on ME = 4,481 Posts

Quotable Quotes:
Palantir of Fortune = 6,877 Posts

Middle-earth Mirth:
Crazy Captions = 9,009 Posts

Translations from the Elvish:
**Ruin of Doriath - Pre-Revision speculation/proposal thread** = 100 Posts

The Shire:
The Green Dragon Inn - Part 11 = 2,437 Posts

Rohan:
The White Horse Inn, Act III = 589 Posts

Gondor:
The Reunification of the Entish Bow - Discussion = 938 Posts

Elvenhome:
Lonely Star: Fanfiction/RPG discussion = 1041 Posts

The Barrow Downs:
Best Avatars = 1,889 Posts

Haudh-en-Ndengin:
Trilogy and Bible? = 215 Posts

Overall top topic of 2005 = Crazy Captions with a staggering 9,009 replies! Congratulations to all those that contributed.

[Lalwendë]

There have been a few memorable flame wars this year, those threads which have you logging on at every opportunity and yet strangely hating to do so in case you have to come up with a new argument, thus leaving important tasks uncompleted and the pots festering in the sink. Notably: What breaks the enchantment? which caused headaches Canon:what ARE we babbling about? in which davem hijacks the thread and attempts to make mincemeat out of The Hobbit's place in the Legendarium, and the often infuriatingly complex Is Eru God?

In amongst all the usual threads of discussion, which this year have included some great topics (including political analyses which I always enjoy) there have also been some wonderful left-field and deeply nerdy discussions including The Trickster in LotR, Smith of Wooton Major in Middle earth?, and You say Fairies and I say Faeries

Some of my top laughs of the year have been the ever-faithful Crazy captions, Snow Angels and What do you assign to Mordor?. But there have been plenty of funny threads this year, and funny posts dotted amongst the serious threads too, long may it continue.

A special honour for nerdy pleasure goes to Favourite edition?. Intrigues of the year? The 'Forbidden' episode, which was horrific. The 'death' of Crystal Heart. The trolls - who was tempted to feed them with bad rep just to see how far they could plummet?

Overall winner of the year for me? CbC! It has been excellent, ensuring something good to read every single week!

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

There have been a few memorable flame wars this year

There have also been the Flame Warriors. That was one of my favourite things this year on the 'How do you imagine the other B-Downers' thread.
Of course, I have to mention Crazy captions and the rise of Gandalf the grey's cloak escapades. I think it’s a running joke that will last a lunchtime.
My first Werewolf game was a huge embarrassment for myself, I wont' go into details, but lets say I'm not going to be doing that again for a long while.
And last but by no means good, who could forget Fortunately / unfortunately and the appearance of Mount Zoom?

[the guy who be short]

Putting aside the Werewolf craze for a moment, I can say with confidence that the thread that has interested me the most this year has been the Assigned To Mordor RPG.

I'm not sure if anything like it has been done before, as I've never RPGed before, but I think it's a bit of a deviation from the norm. And, of course, hilarious reading at every turn.

Alright. Now I'll mention Werewolf.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Here are some end of year Downers statistics.

Top ten Posters at the end of 2005:

1) piosenniel - 6,410
2) The Saucepan Man - 6,242
3) Firefoot - 5,364
4) Estelyn Telcontar - 4,409
5) Child of the 7th Age - 4,057
6) HerenIstarion - 4,011
7) The Barrow-Wight - 3,746
8) Nilpaurion Felagund - 3,517
9) mark12_30 - 3,396
10) The Perky Ent - 3,317

Top Ten Downers in Reputation at the end of 2005:

1) Lalwendë
2) Boromir88
3) The Saucepan Man
4) davem
5) Bêthberry
6) Eomer of the Rohirrim
7) Fordim Hedgethistle
8) Formendacil
9) Estelyn Telcontar
10) Hookbill the Goomba

Congradulations to Saucepan and Estelyn for being in both lists. Quantity and Quality.

[Firefoot]

I think we would all be remiss to exclude the Werewolf games! As much as it seems they've been around forever, they only started in May. For the greatest events of 2005, I should say this certainly deserves some recognition. Locations, signatures, and avatars have been centered around it, people have arranged schedules 'just to be around to vote,' and by the time you add up all the posts in the main thread and in the separate game threads, you have a post count that fits up there with the best of them.

Then I started thinking of RPG's. Shadow of the West certainly sprang to mind, though all the other RPG's I have participated in and am now have/are excellent as well. Island of Sorrow has been very enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing it to its conclusion. Lots of good writing there. And I have to mention my first ever owned game, Sailing Away - and that brought to mind one more infamous event of the year, the Crystal Heart Fiasco, or 'CHF' as it has been officially shortened. Now that will really mess with an RPG. I also had much enjoyment in Red Flows the Sirannon, where I played my first ever Orcs - they had quite a following. I think I received more rep on that thread than on any other single thread, and I even received a pm at the end begging me not to kill them off.

And even though the CbC was already mentioned, I shall do so again. Though my own participation was rather sporadic, I enjoyed the parts I was able to post in/read along with.

And, of course, Palantir of Fortune, a longtime favorite. It should be mentioned that with a much smaller core of posters and the turn-around time that comes with all quiz or quotes game, it managed to take in roughly 3/5 the number of posts of Crazy Captions (3117 in PoF and 5420 in CC) - no small accomplishment.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Edit: Cross-posting with some people...

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

It really does feel like Werewolf has been here forever...And I'm very surprised to hear that it has only been here since May (though in retrospect, I guess I knew that, too). I definitely vote that the WW threads go on the list of best threads. A new tradition has been made

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Though the CbC discussions have been the center of my forum focus during this past year, they started the year before, so are not strictly 2005 threads. However, I would like to nominate alatar's Sequence-by-Sequence movie discussion posts. I enjoy reading his insightful, humorous and sometimes caustic comments!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Though the CbC discussions have been the center of my forum focus during this past year, they started the year before, so are not strictly 2005 threads.

Now, now, there's no excuse for being modest, Esty! Those threads took up a lot of your time and thought this year so I insist you accept this honour.

I have to add that Alatar's comments on SbS are some of the funniest you're likely to read on the Downs (which reminds me I must get back up-to-date with posting on there, much to my embarrassment). And I have also to add in another couple of threads that entertained me a lot: Arrows 'nd Bows and I'm no Da Vinci but....

[Meneltarmacil]

One of the best new threads started in 2005 would have to be Fortunately/Unfortunately. The situations generated there are already legendary. I think most of you have noticed Hookbill's Mount Zoom insanity by now, and Gil-Galad enjoyed playing around with Johnny the Stinky Balrog for quite a while there. There was also a great deal of uncloaking on Gandalf's part.

On a sadder note, I mourn the (hopefully not permanent) loss of Boromir the Disco King, a subject first brought up by Oddwen way back in (I think) 2003.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Mount Zoom will never die! Well, it will eventually.

I think one thing that had stayed in my mind from 2005 is the rapidly increasing reputation of Lalwendy. Those titles have caused much amusement.

[Glirdan]

No, Hookbill my friend, Mount Zoom will never die. I will make sure of that!! Fortunately/Unfortunately is definetly a fun thing to be in what with all the Mount Zoom's, Gil and his Johnny the Stinky Balrog and we cannont forget all of Gandalf's uncloaking.

Crazy Captions, though I'm saddened to say that I haven't participated in that one as much as I was at first, is always good for a laugh. Who can forget the numerous times Gandalf uncloaked himself there as well!?

A new addition, which I'm proud to be a big part of, is the Survivor threads, started by Boro. I say give a hand to him for coming up with such a fantastic idea and give a hand to Ang for following it up with a great Silmarillion Survivor. And I'm going to let you all in on a little secret, well, somewhat. All I'm going to say is be sure to look out for a great ending to Survivor this year!!! That's all I and my fellow consiprators (Ang and Boro) shall reveal.

And how could I leave out Werewolf, the best game I've ever taken part of, even though I've been killed on Day 1 pretty much every time I've played and have yet to be a hero. Still, I must congratulate everyone for makind the games so fun.

[Gil-Galad]

Hookbill, Mt.Zoom will only die when we run out of Pepto Bismal

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I am torn between Assigned to Mordor and the Very First Werewolf Game.

AtM is a delight and was frighteningly present in my mind even on my vacation with no internet. There are laughs surrounding every post as well as compelling characters, all with their own personalities and agendas.

TGWBS and Encai seem to have conspired to make my coffee re-enact that of The Saucepan Man, nearly frying my keyboard in its hasty attempts to leave my mouth as I try to fight laughter long enough to swallow. Flein the Dwarf coughing up cats as he has a Moment inspired by the beautifully old and cranky Woman, Wilhelmina; their pets Mr. Swanky (the ferret) and the yet unnamed and very recently appeared kitten are featured at this time romping happily on the floor.

Valde's eyebrows are ever the source of amusement. His current quest to relieve Leonard Nimoy of his own startled many laughs.

Panakeia's wonderfully endearing attempts to sell her dubious beauty wares makes me smile as young Sai Onora's innocence and fun keeps on encouraging Aluminè Umfuìl to trust people just long enough to end up watching her questionably evil (he's not evil, just misunderstood, she'll tell anybody that will listen) best friend Roggie of Morgoth's leg get blown off by the weapon-happy and Bond-esque Mardil II of Gondor played by none other than the phantom.

Anakron's constant upheaval of all things expected is cause for laughs and hard thinking. Just which celebrity should Alli relieve of his most treasured possession? Austin Powers and his mojo? But how would she coax it from him without breaking the family-friendly guidelines off all things 'Down? Aha! Steal the fangirls from Orlando Bloom. What would he do without them, she wonders? Khamul the Easterling's unexpected corporeal form and King Kong's even more unexpected gender swap and short-lived romance with Mr. Swanky.

You can't help but laugh reading it. Littlemanpoet had a stroke of genius when he thought up the game and another when he managed to get it going.

And this is tied with those awesome memories of Tol-in-Gaurhoth Number One. When The Barrow-Wight introduced this unheard of game, it seemed to fun to pass up. I was right and haven't once regretted it... except maybe that one time my grades suffered... Kidding, I swear.

Anguirel's early attempt to cast suspicion on me worked just enough that nobody ever trusted me. My own lynch-happy feelings toward The Saucepan Man ("Let's lynch him now, just to make sure. Proof? We need proof?") didn't help. But Kuruharan's deviously subtle playing never once aroused suspicion until the very final lynching. Though I had discovered his identity by process of elimination (heck, there were only three of us left), I stood no chance of convincing Oddwen to vote for him. Why would she? The evidence was stacked against me and he'd never looked more innocent.

The game itself was more fun than any other I've yet been in, though my time as a Ranger in WWJI was a very close second. Oh Estel, if only...

The Barrow-Wight, in his omnipotent and ever-loving nature started this addictive trend and I cannot see it ending for a very long time, if even then.

An honorable mention is the phantom's Predictions thread and the hilarity that ensued. The phantom who be short springs to mind. Encai's Da Vinci thread still makes me smile often and all of Fordim's polls. All that must be done to ensure heavy debate is commit a capital offense and make something seem more Important than it actually is. I've learned now to run away when I see a poll; I simply can't avoid being dragged into debate if I give in to the urge to read the thread.

Congratulations and thank you everybody for this wonderful year of experiences.