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Everybody Wang Chung Tonight.

Alright, I wish I had said something sooner, but here goes:

I am not a moderator. This is just a friendly suggestion.

Everyone of us here is a roleplayer. So let's do an exercise.

Pretend you're a young person, who first read Tolkien several years ago and fell in love with Middle-earth for various and sundry reasons. Pretend that you've learnt about roleplaying games and that there is a game — The One Ring — that allows you to play in Middle-earth and tell the stories that have been some important to you these last few years as you've made the transition from being a child to being a young adult. Pretend (and this is the important one) that you're a young woman, with all that entails in modern society (the expectations around body image, the messages in most modern media about sexuality and gender, the 'jokes' that you've heard, and all the fuss about being a female interested in something that's been a 'boy's game').

Now, you've learnt about The One Ring. Maybe you've bought the books, or played the game with friends or at a convention. You're hooked, and you find this website, this forum. Read this thread in the role that I've asked you to play. Do you feel more welcomed? More comfortable?

Again, I'm not a mod. I just try to keep in mind that any post, any thread could be a person's first exposure to our great community and I want to have it be as welcoming as possible.

I'm excited to finish my work tonight so I can look at the Journeys and Maps supplement--it looks lovely at first glance, so thank you C7!

Also, zed, I agree with your point above, and appreciate your saying something. The community here is one of the things I love about TOR.

Rue wrote:I'm excited to finish my work tonight so I can look at the Journeys and Maps supplement--it looks lovely at first glance, so thank you C7!

Also, zed, I agree with your point above, and appreciate your saying something. The community here is one of the things I love about TOR.

I was thinking of you when I wrote it, and the young woman (really, she couldn't have been more than 17) that was in one of my TOR games last year at Gen Con. She told me during a break that it was not only her first time playing The One Ring, but her first time playing a roleplaying game at all. We don't need to be scaring folks like her (or you) away, we need them to keep playing and spread the joy to their friends and so on and so on.

Well said Zed. Remember that many people lurk these forums without posting. What we write might be read by many we don't interact much with.

Agreed. And while that strand of conversation seems to have run it's course, the joke has crossed a line in a very prominent thread.

I'd like to propose this as a solution: how about we have a think about our new forum members of every age, and we edit our own prior posts to this thread accordingly, on the assumption a young person is getting their first impression of TOR from this thread.

Because you know that's true. And while jokes about words that sound like "willy" are enjoyed quite universally, (I live in a house regularly filled with young children, I know!) there's been some sliding across a line into more adult humour here, which isn't suited to the tone of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

Sound fair?

Love that forum.
<3

I think Zed said the right thing, and I think Jon suggested the right path to thread.

I'm honestly not sure why people seem to think the joking about crossed a line; I saw it as an innocent (if admittedly rather puerile) amusement at the coincidence of a Tolkienian word sounding like a rude word.

But although my participation was limited to explaining the joke, I certainly hope I didn't contribute to making anyone feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. And if I did, I apologise.

If anything I said should be edited, please let me know and I'll do it.

Apologies that I started this.

</sigh>

I'm sure I don't just speak for myself here but the jokes were made in an honest way, without any malice, and laughing at the word having a modern day meaning and (maybe even) poking a little fun at the source material; it really was nothing more than that. I do honestly think anyone reading it would appreciate that context and not be put off posting in this forum as the comments were made in a non-directed and, even sometimes, a self-depracating way. The joking did stray into adult territory though and I appreciate Jon pointing that out.

We also got a great response from TS drawing out where in the book the reference related to.

Ultimately, I blame Tolkien for not future-proofing his work. Tsk.