This post is part of the Tale of Months project, an attempt to summarise
the history of aft/rabt in annal form.
These are the key events I have been able to identify on the topic of
Balrog Wings. Help is much appreciated to spot any important events I have
ommitted, mistakes I might have made or any bias that may have crept into
the work. In particular for the key year of 1998 I've generally avoided
posting thread links because I don't know which threads would fairly
represent that period. Should I post some? Can anyone who took part at that
time remember any key threads?
Also, I have not cedited the authors of referenced posts, in an attempt to
keep the annals clean of names that might be seen as compromising
objectivity. Is that a good approach or would the groups prefer to see
authors of significant posts given credit in the annals themselves?
(Obviously the authors of referenced posts can be seen by viewing the posts
in Google).
Without further ado, here is the first draft of the Tale of Months for
Balrog Wings
April 10, 1993 First mention of Balrog wings. No debate ensued.
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=1993Apr10.171322.14334%40midway.uchicago.
edu
June 18, 1993 First debate on Balrog wings in google archive. Posts in this
debate indicate that the subject of Balrog wings was already controversial
but no earlier threads could be found in the archive.
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=1vtmi9%24dh4%40wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au
1993- 1997 Very little discussion of Balrog wings in this time. Most
months had no posts on the topic. The following is typical of the period.
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=520_9504241053%40ship.net
November 1997 Start of the Great Balrog Wing Debates. This month saw the
beginning of a period of intense discussion on Balrog wings. Debate raged
for almost a year before finally dying down towards the end of 1998. A
typical early thread in the Great Debates is this one starting November 29,
1997
http://www.google.com/groups?q=g:thl2940478230d&selm=65qocv%24o2l%40drn.zip
po.com
December 6, 1997 First mention of the "winged speed" passage from Morgoth's
Ring
http://www.google.com/groups?selm%253D66b80s%252524f6%252540drn.zippo.com
March 1998 Rising intensity in the Great Balrog Wings Debates.
March 27 there was a poll of positions on Balrog wings
http://www.google.com/groups?qselm=6fhecd%24rcq%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com
March 30 saw the start of the famous 'Simile vs. Metaphor' thread
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=Pine.SOL.3.91.980330144140.2872A-100000%4
0bio3.acpub.duke.edu
April 1998 Peak of the Great Balrog Wing Debates. Over 600 posts on Balrog
wings were made in this month.
November 1998 End of the Great Balrog Wing Debates. Discussion of Balrog
Wings dies down in volume and intensity by the end of 1998 though it never
decreases to the pre-1998 lows and is resurrected on several occasions.
April 1999 Emergence of consensus position on Balrog wings. Though not
universally accepted a consensus on Balrog wings emerges around a
compromise definition of "wings". The archive is fragmented at this point;
important threads are:
March 13
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=MPG.117ca125ca249875989744%40news.teleram
a.com
March 16
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=FA9Itw.4s1%40midway.uchicago.edu
March 20
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=MPG.1186b4863966b63398974f%40news.teleram
a.com
August 20, 1999 Discussion of Balrog wings sparked again by the Great
Debates Revised Summaries thread (fragmented)
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=FGr0p7.Dz7%40midway.uchicago.edu and
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=FPjv3.6451%247d.13153%40nntpserver.swip.n
et
May 28, 2001 The Truth About Balrogs, Volume 6 summarises the positions and
references for Balrog wings
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=d_DQ6.49710%24t12.3845528%40bgtnsc05-news
..ops.worldnet.att.net
2001-2004 Although debate on Balrog wings is never completely absent from
aft/rabt, most posts in this period were joking or sarcastic references to
earlier debates rather than serious debates in their own right.
--
Trade
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