Thank You, Volunteers!
In true Tolkienian tradition, our new site is the product of many minds and hands who worked on everything from documents to testing to keeping the current group and site afloat while we made the transition to the new software. If you are enjoying the new site, please consider commenting on one of our volunteers' fanworks as a token of thanks!
While we knew we needed a software overhaul, we also decided to use the transition as an opportunity to review and update site documents as well, specifically with an inclusivity focus. Welcoming all Tolkien fans has always been one of our values, but our documents were fifteen years old and didn't always reflect our values as they have evolved in this time. This kind of work can be challenging, uncomfortable, and even painful, and our inclusivity committee deserves kudos for making it happen. Thank you, Elwin Fortuna, Mertiya, Janeways, Independence1776, and Elleth for being a part of this work.
Of course, the site itself took a lot of effort from a lot of people. First of all, bunn designed our beautiful new logo, chosen by our members in a landslide, and around which the design of the rest of the site proceeded. Our intrepid beta testers jumped into using a mostly untried site and then reported all the problems they found (and there were lots!) to the cranky site builder, who was just eager at that point to be done. Their patience with the new site (and with me!) is so appreciated, and the site as you see it now is much better for their efforts. They'll tell you they didn't do much but don't believe them! Our journey to this point would have been much rougher without them. Thank you, firstamazon, Gabriel, Independence1776, ArizonaPoppy, Himring, Lferion, and Janeways--our invaluable beta testers!
In addition to work on the new site itself, the old site needed to be kept afloat. One of my big worries, entering into this project, was that the current site and group would suffer as I floundered through the weeds of rebuilding the new site. Many people pulled together to make sure this didn't happen. My comoderators Lyra and Grundy kept the monthly challenges running. More than once, I stumbled into our shared challenge document on the day it was due, hoping to throw something together, only to discover that they'd finished it, and it was ready to go. Likewise, the newsletter kept going because of Russandol, with Angelica, Elleth, Oshun, and Lindariel compiling and producing the content each month. On our Discord server, Grundy and Suzelle kept the lights on and the conversation flowing. I sure wasn't paying attention--the server could have turned into a Tetris fan board and I would have been none the wiser! Because of all of you, the SWG pulled through so that we still had a group in place to occupy the lovely new site we'd built--thank you all!
My final thank you goes out to Russandol, who was my partner in crime on this rebuild project. As the migration grew in complexity and modules continued to randomly break the site and I once, memorably, broke the site as well, I kept expecting she would tell me she'd had enough. She never did. She was responsible for migrating thousands of fanworks, comments, and hundreds of users from our aging eFiction software to our new Drupal platform, which did not particularly care for talking to each other. She sometimes had to endure a dozen emails from me a day to the tune of "help this broke!" Russa, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you did and continue to do for this community. I am so grateful for your help.
Finally, thank you to our members and friends who make this community what it is. Whether you've been with us for the full sixteen years of our journey or are just joining us now, this site would be nothing without the people who share their work, support the work of others, and keep our love for Tolkien alive. Never underestimate the power of a single comment or fanwork or small act of kindness. You are the reason we exist, and I am thankful for each of you and your ongoing support of the Silmarillion Writers' Guild.
Posted on 25 April 2021 (updated 2 July 2021) by Dawn Felagund
