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Topic: LOTR Book Discussion Club

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Being lies with Eru - Rank 1
Status: Offline
Posts: 383
Date: Jul 7, 2014
RE: LOTR Book Discussion Club

It looks like there is certain lack of consensus concerning the rules imposed on the Book Discussion thread. It is not even exactly clear who is to make those rules. When I agreed to take part, I thought that no formal rules would be needed, and unspoken rules would be based on common sense. Apparently, however, everyone's idea of the common sense is different here. To me, for example, going beyond LOTR in search for answers to questions arising from LOTR is fully legitimate (I don't think I am the only one like this) but not everybody agree. I definitely consider it a lost opportunity if we don't delve deeper into many interesting issues and therefore forgo sources other than LOTR itself. Others prefer to keep the discussion focused solely on LOTR, allowing exceptions which are, however, not well defined. Honestly it is less than thrilling to be repeatedly told not to go into Letters, or HoMe, or other illuminating but extraneous material.

It seems, nevertheless, that there is a way to satisfy most discussion participants. I think we will open a sister thread, which will contain all the discussion that overflows from the main thread, where all sources and lengthy conversations, even sliding off the immediate topic, will be allowed. The two threads can be interlinked, so it would be easy to go there and back, and the supplemental thread can also be annotated for convenience. I am suggesting it no way as competing but rather as complementing the main thread, so the latter can stay clean and focused on LOTR. What do other discussion members think?


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Lórellinë

Guard of Armenelos - Rank 4
Status: Offline
Posts: 764
Date: Jul 7, 2014
I agree whole heartedly....it is Book Discussion not a "Book Poop yourself and move on" discussion group.

When you stop learning you stop growing....so I endorse this new thread situation. I also agree that this is not a opposition but a compliment to the original Book Discussion Thread. Will this be a thread that will help us utilize things like Unfinished Tales, Shaping of Middle Earth and other sources or will there be hindrances applied to this annex as well?

You, Lorelline have been working with the One to make annotations possible...please tell me that this will be a place that is easy to find...and not a laborious undertaking. How do we start?


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Slaves of udun
Status: Offline
Posts: 84
Date: Jul 7, 2014

To be honest, I had/have no problem going outside the books to find answers. Sometimes it seems that is the only way to find answers. At the thread's inception, I never intended on having limitations.

However, the "rules", or whatever they may be, were a response to a concern someone brought to me - that the "Lord of the Rings discussion" was spending a lot of time discussing the Silmarillion, the Histories of Middle-earth, the letters of Tolkien, etc.

That said, as I can see both sides, I think a sister thread is a brilliant idea and would love to take part in that. Thank you for bringing the idea up.



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"And Morgoth came."

Being lies with Eru - Rank 1
Status: Offline
Posts: 383
Date: Jul 7, 2014
Thanks to both of you!

I failed to mention one more advantage of the sister-thread: that there shouldn't be any time limits, unlike in the main thread (where they are quite appropriate). There could be more issues coming into the overflow thread while the ongoing issue is still being discussed, but as we know this is not a problem, since any patchwork thread can be properly annotated - see Speculation Thread for example. And yes, I think it is not difficult to make all the material easy and straightforward to find and to annotate. Depending on who opens it, we can reserve a post at the beginning for the annotation purposes. I will be happy to annotate or to assist anyone who chooses to do it.

To be fair, I am greatly indebted to The One for making it possible to easily post pictures, as well as for other recent enhancements. As to annotation through linking to specific posts, I need to express gratitude to one of my friends for pointing out the correct syntax for this magic tongue called HTML. If there is interest I am willing to post the recipe, for anyone to use.

All Tolkien (and perhaps non-Tolkien if relevant) sources should be fine to use... HoMe (and Vols 6-9 especially, which are dealing mostly with LOTR drafts), RGEO, Letters, UT, VT etc. not to mention The Hobbit and The Sil!


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Lórellinë

Guard of Armenelos - Rank 4
Status: Offline
Posts: 764
Date: Jul 8, 2014

Here is the new Extension to the Book Discussion Thread:

 

With that let's resume this Book Discussion Thread with no further interruptions.....



-- Edited by Jaidoprism7 on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 08:04:51 PM



-- Edited by Jaidoprism7 on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 08:05:54 PM



-- Edited by Jaidoprism7 on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 08:56:57 PM

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Being lies with Eru - Rank 1
Status: Offline
Posts: 383
Date: Jul 13, 2014

I think yes, we can start Chapter 7 of FOTR now. I can post the questions if others don't mind.

 

Also, just wanted to mention that the new Permalink feature (that is now working perfectly) allows for a very easy interlinking between specific posts in the main and the extension threads - or actually any posts in any threads. This feature, as The One has pointed out, provides the address of a specific post. The address appears at the top when the Permalink is clicked. For example, I may refer to this post:

http://tolkienforums.activeboard.com/t6776167/an-elf-slays-a-demigod/?page=1#comment-54439426

As convenient as this new feature is, the links look a bit long. Besides, there may be a need to put any reference into context, e.g. I may want to refer to that post as to the post that glued me to this site.

 

The resulting link looks sort of neater. It is (as probably many know, but some might be wondering) relatively easily done by HTML but easier still it would be to highlight the phrase that is to appear as a link and then click on the 'link' icon in the editor (full editor, not quick reply; the 'link' icon is next to a button that appears as 'T', to the right from it; and it only becomes active if something is selected/highlighted in your post). Then you can copy-paste the actual URL in the URL line (that is the first line) of the three-line form that will open. The second line is self explanatory and the third may be left blank.



-- Edited by Lorelline on Sunday 13th of July 2014 12:43:06 AM

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Lórellinë

 
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