Gone "Tree-ish"

[Alassë Estel]

I have lately spent much time reading old threads from all over this place, and I find it rather regrettable that I seem to have missed the "golden age" of The Barrow Downs. And this makes me wonder, when exactly did The Downs begin to fade? Also, was it a gradual decline, or was there a certain event/point which caused a sudden fall?

And just to clarify, there is nothing horrible about the current state of The Downs, nor it's active members. I am not complaining, merely curious.

[Galadriel55]

Hmm. I would say that by the time I joined in 2010, the Downs was still very much active but already past its peak. But Werewolf games were still regular, and Quiz/Quotes/Mirth was active pretty consistently, and RPG forums were slow but going. If you want a true old-timer's account, you might be interested in Mithadan's posts on this thread. He went through a bit of the History of the Barrow Downs through the early ages.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

I have lately spent much time reading old threads from all over this place, and I find it rather regrettable that I seem to have missed the "golden age" of The Barrow Downs. And this makes me wonder, when exactly did The Downs begin to fade? Also, was it a gradual decline, or was there a certain event/point which caused a sudden fall?

And just to clarify, there is nothing horrible about the current state of The Downs, nor it's active members. I am not complaining, merely curious.

Like most Tolkien/Middle-Earth based sites that sprang up from around 1999 with the first whisperings of movies being made, the hey-day of the Barrow Downs was those first half-dozen years of this century.

Being the Barrow Downs did not feature in the PJ movies, the numbers of people registering, though impressive, wasn't quite as many as places like TORc and TORn. For that very reason, this place always seemed (to me) to have more of a 'bookish' vibe to it.

With the run of movies over and their subsequent DVD releases, interest faded on all the site, but it seemed to me that wasn't so much here on the Barrow Downs. The peak of popularity was lower, but in contrast the valley was shallower.

Many places I had visited have since crumbled into dust leaving not a trace (Ringbearer, Minas Tirith), while others are left abandoned and only ruins remain where spambots infest the dark places (Arwen Undomiel). TORc became a yuppie personality cult requiring paid subscriptions to access it, and a couple others are hanging on with a hand full of members (Council of Elrond, Entmoot... though I think the gates have finally collapsed there as well). Tolkien Forums had a rough run through the last decade, but after a couple ownership changes, Someone who cared to put the work into it took over and they have revitalized.

Barrow Downs ... one thing that is comforting about this place is it is consistent. I come and go through the years, and after 22 years, this is my 601st post.

[Bêthberry]

Discussion fora had their heyday as the internet developed but then social media sites like Facebook, which were based on RL identities and not pseudonyms, became popular. Their shorter, more chatty and personal posts were easier and faster to do and keep up with than the discussions that are possible on fora, where the focus is less on the personal post and more on the topic at hand, where anyone can join in, rather than known friends from RL.

I have "Tolkien friends" from around the world--Europe, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, the Middle East--who I probably would not have got to know via Facebook. The focus here on Tolkien and not on other topics is probably what has kept those of us still here active as our interest in Tolkien is deeper than just pop or social culture popularity. Many members now have demanding jobs, families, and heavy RL responsibilities but that interest remains and will draw them back once RL demands lighten.

Also, the success of the forum in drawing groups of people together encouraged "moots" in RL--famous ones via the Tolkien Societies in England and in Germany, then others in Finland, Germany, the "movable moot" in the US where the Finns crossed North America to visit Downers in many states, the Boston Christmas moot, irregular but on-going NYC meetings--and the creating of "smials" or local Tolkien groups in cities around the world have ironically made it easier to discuss Tolkien in RL than here.

But as the activity engendered by the Amazon serial demonstrated, this remains a place to return to when Tolkien discussion heats up.

[Alassë Estel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

If you want a true old-timer's account, you might be interested in Mithadan's posts on this thread. He went through a bit of the History of the Barrow Downs through the early ages.

Thank you for the link! I am working my way through Mithadan's thread now, it is quite interesting.

And thanks for the other answers too! It is nice to hear people's thoughts and reminiscings.

[Pitchwife]

I joined the Downs as late as 2008 and remember three lively years brimming with discussions, riddles and games, RPGs and, last not least, Werewolf (never underestimate the bonding experience of killing each other a dozen times over!) We even had a weekly newspaper, The Downer, with its outrageously funny comic strip, the Phantom & Alien. (Sadly, the old issues of The Downer seem to have been used to wrap fish in and are now illegible, but P&A is still archived here.)

I dropped out for the first time in 2012, absorbed in other stuff, and slunk back three years later, after what then seemed an eternity, just in time for the Welcome Back Party celebrating the forum's resurrection after The Great Barrow Downs Blackout of 2015 (q.v.). I think the Age of the Trees began even back then. Many formerly active members who were in school or university during the heydays of the Downs were now busy finishing their studies, with their jobs or starting a family (there are several RL Downer couples who first met here, and by now even a few Barrow Downs babies!), or just, dare I say it?, pursuing other interests beside Tolkien's works. But folks still keep in contact via social media (there's a Barrow Downs group on Facebook), and once in a while a Downs anniversary or an exceptional situation like the Pandemic in 2020 will bring us back here.

For me, the Downs were the first online community I was active in, being a digital immigrant from the age of wired phones and b/w TV, and for those first three years mentioned above Downsing accounted for between 50 and 75 % of my internet activity. I guess I just burned out. My enthusiasm for discussing the minutiae of Middle-earth has waned like the dwindling glory of the Elves, although I still love Tolkien's work and the Downs will always be a cherished part of my life.


(Btw, a belated but hearty welcome, Alasse! It's good to see a fresh spirit breathe some new life, or, well unlife into these quiet crypts.)

[Alassë Estel]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

(Btw, a belated but hearty welcome, Alasse! It's good to see a fresh spirit breathe some new life, or, well unlife into these quiet crypts.)

Thank you! It's good to be here.

[Formendacil]

Like all good parties, it stopped being cool sometime shortly after I showed up (2005) and has been in steady decline ever since.

The real "problem" was arguably the pipeline of new members: people inevitably lose interest/time/ability to be regular members of a lively forum, but the fading of Tolkien from the forefront of the Internet as the movies receded from view mixed with the demographic shift as interaction on the web went from fora to "social media" meant that there weren't new members coming in behind us.

Combine older users fading out and no one new coming in behind, and you get a sleepier forum. We can still be roused (whatever its other sins, RoP was good for that last year!), but the steady influx of posting in my youth seems to be behind us. Why, I remember when a netizen could return to the Active Topics after reading a post and continually find new posts read all night--yea, and into the morning!

[Bêthberry]

A recent attack of faux ent-wives spam was vigorously and quickly beaten back, so we are not as "tree-ish" as it would appear.

[Galadriel55]

Certainly not yet overgrown with weeds.