Disagreement and argument is inevitable in any fandom. However, there’s a point where the disgreements become so vehement, and the positions of the sides so entrenched that constructive debate becomes impossible.
At that point you have what media and fandom wiki TV Tropes calls a Broken (Fan)Base.
This is the topic that we’ll be examining tomorrow in The Hall of Fire: is the Tolkien/Lord of the Rings fanbase irretrievably broken, and did Peter Jackson break it with The Hobbit?
Can we still constructively debate Jackson’s adaptations any more without having to “agree to disagree”, or falling into flamewars?
And if we cannot, can this be put down to a single root cause, or is it the result of a number of editorial and production decisions? Or a people (fans) simply too demanding?
Join us at 5pm EST Saturday in the Hall of Fire for what’s sure to be a lively discussion!
Time zone conversions
Go here to see when the chat begins in your timezone. Or consult the list below.
America:
5.00pm EST (New York)
4.00pm CST (Chicago)
3.00pm MST (Denver)
2.00pm PST (Los Angeles)
Europe:
10.00pm GMT (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
Midnight EEST (Helsinki)
Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
9.00am AEDT (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
11.00am NZDT (Sunday) Wellington
How long do your topic chats go for?
Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!
Where — connection details
Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.
Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.
Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire
