** General Comments on the Project & Sign Up Thread **

[Alassë Estel]

Hello! I am here, and have been since June so we've not met yet. But I am afraid I haven't any clue about this project. Sorry I can't help, but it is lovely to meet you!

[Elvellon]

Hi everybody. I'm brand new here, but not new to Tolkien. I was re-reading the Silmarillion recently, after a (too) long hiatus of reading in general. Somehow I stumbled upon this project and I feel like I could be of some help, if help is needed, that is. I have been a copyeditor and proofreader, as well as a layout designer and digital typesetter for about 20 years.

I'm here to help, if you would have me!

[Aiwendil]

Welcome, Elvellon! And Alasse Estel (Though I guess you've been around for a bit, while I was away.)

This project has been slower than molasses recently (largely my fault, I fear), but I'm hoping that it's not yet dead. Please feel free to poke around the old threads and get acquainted with our methods and madness.

[Alassë Estel]

Thanks very much! And welcome to The Barrow-Downs, Elvellon.

[ArcusCalion]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Once again, I've got to apologize for my long absence.

I hope everyone's doing well. Who's around? I wonder if we can try to refresh our memories about where we were and try to make progress on this again. I should, I hope, have a bit more time to devote to this now.

I am still lurking, I check for updates once in a blue moon, but I would be happy to try to keep working! I believe we were most recently trying to finalize/update Chapter 4: Of the Coming of the Elves.

Welcome to new members! I myself only started work on this project in 2016, so I'm comparatively new to this as well. Findegil and I together with Gondowe basically completed a pass-through of the entire narrative from the creation to the end of the third age, and when we last left off, Aiwendil was helping us finalize our versions of the chapters starting from the beginning. We were on chapter 4. If either of you have any questions concerning the project, such as methods, texts, changes, etc, please feel free to reach out to me in dms, as I'm the first to admit that this forum is EXTREMELY dense and hard to parse out!

[Arvegil145]

Originally Posted by ArcusCalion

I am still lurking, I check for updates once in a blue moon, but I would be happy to try to keep working! I believe we were most recently trying to finalize/update Chapter 4: Of the Coming of the Elves.

Sorry - if you don't mind, but I forgot where The Wanderings of Hurin are?

I searched through the subforum, but can't find a thread with that name.

[ArcusCalion]

Originally Posted by Arvegil145

Sorry - if you don't mind, but I forgot where The Wanderings of Hurin are?

I searched through the subforum, but can't find a thread with that name.

Those were finalized before my time with the project, but I believe it is included in the Ruin of Doriath narrative.

[Mithadan]

Alasse and Elvellon, if you would like access to the private TftE Forum, please send me a private message.

[Val Balmer]

Hi everyone,

I am new here as Val Balmer, but my interesest with your project goes far beyond, I had a previous account (I lost the credentials) as Echtelion in the past.

As others I have made my own versions of extended Silmarillion and other narratives and, even if I don't have much time, I'd like to have a look at your complete works and maybe give my contribution from time to time.

Would it be possible to have access?

[Elvellon]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Welcome, Elvellon! And Alasse Estel (Though I guess you've been around for a bit, while I was away.)

This project has been slower than molasses recently (largely my fault, I fear), but I'm hoping that it's not yet dead. Please feel free to poke around the old threads and get acquainted with our methods and madness.

Thank you for the warm welcome! I've been reading through the **'d threads and it's been fascinating seeing the evolution of the various projects. Although, is the html or bbcode showing up for anyone else or just me? It seems like maybe the oldest threads were broken by a forum change/upgrade or something at some point in the past?

[Mithadan]

Alasse, Elvellon and Val Balmer, you have all been given access to the private TftE forum. It should appear directly below this forum. If it does not, try logging out and back in. Let me know if you have issues.

[Aiwendil]

Welcome (back), Val Balmer!

Originally Posted by Elvellon

Although, is the html or bbcode showing up for anyone else or just me? It seems like maybe the oldest threads were broken by a forum change/upgrade or something at some point in the past?

Yes, the forum was migrated from a different place a while back, and the old board used html while this one uses BBCode, so all the old html is broken. Kind of gives one the feeling of deciphering an ancient text when you read really old threads.

[Elvellon]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Alasse, Elvellon and Val Balmer, you have all been given access to the private TftE forum. It should appear directly below this forum. If it does not, try logging out and back in. Let me know if you have issues.

Much obliged! I see it just fine without any need to log out.

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Yes, the forum was migrated from a different place a while back, and the old board used html while this one uses BBCode, so all the old html is broken. Kind of gives one the feeling of deciphering an ancient text when you read really old threads.

That's what I suspected. And yes, that's exactly what it feels like! A language I once knew, the meaning now obscured beneath the dust of long-decayed memories, the skill of its writing withered by ages of disuse.

[Val Balmer]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Welcome (back), Val Balmer!



Yes, the forum was migrated from a different place a while back, and the old board used html while this one uses BBCode, so all the old html is broken. Kind of gives one the feeling of deciphering an ancient text when you read really old threads.

Thanks! There a huge quantity of material to read... any suggestion on where to start or on how to improve the reading experience

[Aiwendil]

Originally Posted by ArcusCalion

I am still lurking, I check for updates once in a blue moon, but I would be happy to try to keep working! I believe we were most recently trying to finalize/update Chapter 4: Of the Coming of the Elves.

I'll try to take a look at that chapter again and see where we were.

There's also the issue of the Ruin of Doriath in light of "Concerning 'The Hoard'" being revealed last year.

I hope Findegil checks back sometimes. Maybe I'll send him a PM in case he gets e-mail notifications for those.

Originally Posted by Val Balmer

There a huge quantity of material to read... any suggestion on where to start or on how to improve the reading experience

I think that just reading through some of the discussion threads is the only way. The ones that have had full discussions of the drafts are largely the later chapters, from "Beren and Luthien" to "The Voyage of Earendil", and the early ones, from the Ainulindale up to "Concerning the Naugrim, Ents, and Eagles".

[Findegil]

Please take a (belated) but heartfelt welcome from me Alassë Estel and Elvellon!

And to all the others welcome back!

I am glad about the new and renewd interest!

Not so easy to say where we stand right now, but ArcusCalion gave as good a summary as I could have made. What he left out was the fact that we have been through in the middle of volume III: The Lore of the Wise' when we stopped. So that some drafts are not yet collected here.

For all the newer members: I would start at chapter 4: Of the Coming of the Elves. Because that is most likley the place where we veterans will start to work (if we do, I have read to many short living restarts to be sure). Read first the draft in the private forum. (In this case it is only one version, in other cases start from the back to find the begining of the latest. The latest should all be new enough to be fairly readable - no broken html). And then pick up the discussion of the chapter here in the public forum. Next I would suggest to start from the begining chapters and work forward. In a similar way: read the draft in the privte forum and if you have a question about the changes consult the discussion in the public forum or simply ask there. (As a reminder: all discussions should be here in the public forum, the private forum is just a kind of archiv.)

Respectfully
Findegil