*nod* Or I might have shown up at a comparatively good one, with the movie/book canon flames drawing most of the crazies...although years of Usenet addiction, some of it spent in some very testy groups, may have just left me with a very very thick skin. (A quick trigger finger on the slrn scorefile also tended to be very helpful in increasing the sanity quotient.) I never followed either group religiously, but I dipped in occasionally off and on for several years, and the core group of regulars generally seemed mostly sane and good-humored -- there were definitely crazies about, but that was always pretty much par for the course for Usenet groups, especially after the September that never ended...

(And why oh why am I not surprised the Great Balrog Wing Debate cropped up, even in a brief visit? *snicker* Andrew Rilstone's essay (http://web.archive.org/web/20020203184619/http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/misreading-LOTR.htm) on the subject is still my favorite commentary on that whole mess...)